Scourge of the Seas: The Gandros Navy Arrives!
by Super Hurricane
Summary: All things considered, it is not wise to badmouth Whitebeard when surrounded by savage, unwashed pirates in a convention hall. If that happens, play dead until they get tired of poking with swords. Updated!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Flames will be ignored and given to the muses who have been waiting for a year to get this written up.

Ch 1

In the blue sky, it seemed rather restful for the single seagull in the sky, spreading his wings to enjoy soaking in thermals and rise upwards. Unfortunately, it took in it's last breath, as if some invisibile hand had grabbed it's neck and started crunching the small bones. It squawked it's last breath, dangling in mid-air before falling limp wondering what killed it.

5 seconds later, it's buffalo-size body landed on the deck of a massive viking-inspired ship with 4 floors. The mast was a serpent dragon with blue skin, and the wood that supported it was Adam Wood, which was bought with blood money. 5 different cannons of various sizes were on the top deck and one in the crow's nest, awhile rows of them were down below. But what was really strange about it was the navy sails that had several dolphins painted on them.

"Great...another thing for me to put away..." A green-haired chore boy muttered, walking over to the giant seagull in order to lift it over his shoulder with ease. "Cresendo might like this though..." A blush crossed his face as he went below deck towards the mess hall.

As he walked in, he noticed the captain over in the V.I.P. table, getting chummy with a bunch of women seamen with decent figures. He knew the captain well, a commander of the seas with a reputation for winning battles on sea and land, the mighty **Captain Alto** of the Red Strings of Fate. Slender, yet a little fat, strong, but with pink muscle, long black hair and a smile so devilish that it was bewitching. He wore the uniform of the Navy proudly, but the sleeves were torn and there were multiple holes in it for some odd reason, not to mention thick lensed glasses that were extremely dirty. However, despite him being young (he'll be 23 in 6 months), he didn't seem to be happy.

According to ship rumors, the Ship's cook had gone off to get ingredients using one of the lifeboats, leaving a note of her coordinates. The captain was devastated, but after learning that his First Mate, Helmsman, Sniper and Shipwright had also taken boats to different islands, he had fallen into depression. The 76 root beers weren't doing his stomach well either, he had completely swore off alcohol when his last ship was sunk by randomly appearing iceburgs.

"Another round on me!" Alto rambled, hiccuping every few seconds as the girls massaged him as best as they could. His pink muscles were very tense and restricted, due to the pressure and the lack of good pirates to fight.

A Lieutenant Junior Grade officer ran in, carrying a red Den-den Mushi in his hands as if it was of some importance. As soon as he got to the table, he saluted his superior and bowed. "Important call for you sir! All the way from Marine headquarters!"

"You do realize I'm still eating, right? What could be so important that disturbs my meal?" Alto grumbled, placing aside his plate as he picked up the reciever. "Hello? This is Captain Alto speaking?" His eyes widened in shock for a few shocks, then went lax. "Hello, sir. It has been a long time. Yes, I have seen the wanted posters. I am still a bit annoyed that the media failed to get his first name though. Yes, I have heard that a small armada has been deployed for the purpose of finding them as well as the other high bounty-ranked pirates. No doubt you plan the same thing that happened to Gol D. Roger, eh? No sir, I'm not being sarcastic. It just don't seem normal to 'kill off' normal civilians that once knew the pirates through spying and secret assassination. Yes, sir. Better to do that once the bounties go up. Me? Currently, the normal crew is fine, but my Lieutenant-Commanders and Commanders are currently at various islands, either getting supplies or doing spy work for the World Government. Very well then, I will have the ship restocked, then we will search for them. Then we will begin to collect those vicious pirates." With a deep sign of relief, he put the reciever down, as well as the wired earplugs which would 'silence' the slug so the words would reach only his ears.

Every member of the ship turned to face their captain as he stood up, his aura immense and dark with hatred. "ATTENTION, MEN AND WOMEN OF THE **GANDROS LEVIATHAN**! AS OF TODAY, WE WILL BE GOING TO COLLECT OUR COMRADES IN BATTLE! THE WORLD IS CORRUPTED BY THE PIRATE GERM, AND IT IS OUR DUTY, OUR RIGHT TO ARREST THEM AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE! NOT ONLY FOR THE WORLD GOVERNMENT, BUT FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUFFERING!" Wild cheers and hollering could be heard from the crew as they stood up and saluted their captain for making a grand speech.

"Are you going to eat that?" Alto looked down to see little **Cresendo**, a 10 year old Cabin girl in a pink seaman uniform with brown paw prints etched on it. She looked pale and sickly, with 3 days of insommia on her face from doing chores day in and out. Her long black hair was placed into a thick braid held in place by rubber bands and wool string, which only missed touching the floor by 3 inches, as it was almost as long as her 5'2" body.

"Sure, why not. You've been begging for scraps for a while now anyways, and I don't have much of a appetite. But I guess why most people on the crew call you the 'Trash Disposal'." Alto said, handing her the plate in a calm way. He knew he will never see the plate again, as he walked through the hallways towards the ladder to the second floor. 'Best tell **Requiem** that we may have to find the others..."

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**Captain Alto**: 22 years. In charge of a Navy ship, goes after pirates 50 million and higher, reports to higher ranking officers. No other information.

**Cresendo**: 10 years. Cabin girl, always hungry, said to roam around towns devouring pirates in her spare time although the bodies are never found. No other information.

**Requiem**: 16 years. Navigator, and tends to get on everyone's nerves as despite her beauty, she never flirts with any of the male crewmen. Indifferent to everything and anyone, a blank slate. No other information.

**Gandros Leviathan**: The Navy Ship, viking-inspired. Speciality: Heavy firepower and ground-to-air mortar cannons, as well as a strong foundation made of Adam Wood. No prison cells inside though, but is equipped with all the essentials of living for several weeks without being on land. Very slow.


	2. Preparations complete!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I do own my characters. I just wish I could have put in more women for this, but then I might get clobbered by large mallets. (sweatdrops)

Ch 2

The Navigator's Room was as plain as a empty hotel room, no maps, no compasses, no drawings or pens or even read-outs of storms. Even the typical bookshelves were missing, leaving only a Twin Size bed and a closet with women's navy clothing. There wasn't even a lamp or a source of light, which usually most cabin rooms would be carrying. But on the ground, there was a strange drawing, a 8-pointed star with black clouds in the background firing off lightning. It was the kind of drawing that could easily be more popular than the most famous of artist's in that era.

On the decorated floor, a young woman around 16 sat down in a mediative state, in what seemed to be silk-tailored Navy apparel with red dragon designs laced around the lining, which her C Cups rested on. Her hair was the color of blood, and the bobcut she had put her bangs directly over her left eye, leaving but one expressionless eye revealed. Her mouth was covered by a sandy colored veil, and her arms were wrapped tightly around a burlap sack. "...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."

"Oi, wake up. I need ya to do some of that fancy dancy navigation work." The female rose from the floor in a single motion, her single eye turning to face the captain who seemed to have a grim look on his face. Normally he was grinning, not that she cared or even knew how to care. With a grunt, he handed her a set of coordinates with lat. and long. settings on a peculiar island.

"...Navigation Online..." Her single eye looked buzzed, as she lifted her arms in a V pattern. Her feet then turned, around and around and until she was practically spinning 2 inches above the ground. Below her, tiny, tiny pieces of unknown origin slowly rose upwards collecting upon each other like puzzle pieces. Slowly, a small arrowhead formed the size of a golf ball, then grew bigger and bigger until it was the length of a harpoon and the size of a **'Buggy Ball'**. The arrowhead shifted to the right, then the left, as she landed gracefully on the floor, then settled on the northwest point of the drawing, a few inches down to the right. "...Coordinates locked..."

"Very well, I will send one of your navigation staff to write that down, so hold your position until we arrive at the next island." Altos said, turning around as he walked out the door. He hated the codenames that the Navy gave them, based on the musical notes that **Vice Admiral Gandros** had been so fond of. The nicknames stuck to his top men and women, and soon he couldn't even recall what his real name was anymore, stuck on a boat for weeks or even months.

After that, he sent word to a crewman to send a navigation member to her room in order to find the full direction and relay it to the crow's nest. According to them, Requiem would have to stay in that position until they arrived at the island, awhile hand-fed her meals and drinks by rookie seamen. "I'm so annoyed right now. Blast that stupid Axe jerk and all those newcomers popping up, now the others are going to get on my case about lost vacation time when I retrieve them..."

2 weeks later...

"Land ho!" A crew member yelled out from the crow's nest, his voice rang out loudly as Alto's bloodshot eyes fluttered open, gazing at a bottle of root beer on the table. Many of the marine seamen had already left the mess hall, leaving only the janitorial staff and some smooth-talkers hitting on ladies with no interest. With a brief yawn, he rubbed the sleep wrinkles out of his eyes and got off his chair in order to find out what was going on.

Above deck, countless rows of seamen stood in line as he passed by, saluting him. "As you were, men." He tiredly muttered, his vision hazy with black dots moving about in his eyes. Nearby, the ship's doctor, **Gladyr Flinch**, was currently ordering several swabbies to hold onto his medical bags when they made it to land. He certainly was different than most doctors, as his hair was smoking and standing on end, and his bulldog face was droopy. His right and left eyes twitched seperately every 5 seconds, and his flesh was coarse with multiple 2nd degree burns that he treated, but the marks still remained. His back was hunched over, due to the physical labor of constantly bending over to treat patients, and his legs were shaking badly.

"No, no! Antobiotics and bandages go in the red briefcase, tranquilizers and latex wrap go in the blue briefcase! Weren't you listening?" Gandyr yelled, his skin turning red as various veins popped up. Alto's hand fell down on his shoulder, then tightened like a steel vise.

"Calm down or I'll put you in the brig for a time out. I will not stand for you using your power on innocents, no matter who they are." Alto said, as Gladyr could feel his throat being squeezed by a unknown force.

"O-okay! P-p-p-please stop!" Gladyr wheezed, then dropped down on his knees gasping for air as the squeezing stopped and released him. "You should feel lucky that all I had today was a steak, or I would so roast ya..."

"Don't push it." Alto said, then brought out a telescope from his waist pocket to see the island up close. It was a small island, 3 towns which he could see in front, plus 2 rectangle buildings that seemed to blech green smoke from a funnel chimneys. A 40 foot tall antenna was overtowering the towns and buildings, but for what purpose was its construction was unknown to him at this time. Overhead, storm clouds gathered around in a circle, unaffected by the wind or thermals.

"**Dance powder**...so that's what this island..." Alto paused, trying to recall the name by picking his ear.

"Umm...it's called Tarmack Island, sir! It's where the navy collect coal and gunpowder from! It's also the world's largest firing range!" A seaman offered, knowing that their captain wasn't the violent type.

"Of course it is." For the first time in weeks, Alto's face broke out into a wide grin. "You just earned a second helping in the mess hall, swab. Tell the assistant chef that I permitted it." The seaman's eyes broke into tears of joy, as he quickly ran below deck. Once the crew were sent to different areas to prepare to board at the docks, Alto's grin faded away. 'Gunpowder, eh? So that's why I haven't heard jack from you in 3 months...''

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**Buggy Ball:** One of the main reasons why Buggy the Clown has remained a dangerous threat in West Blue. However, the Arrowhead is just as deadly.

**Vice Admiral Gandros**: Deceased, said to have the ability to plan out a entire battle in advance and then ordered his men to carry out counter-attacks to cease the attacks. Said to be a extremely deadly at hand to hand combat. Trained Altos in judo.

**Gladyr Flinch**: 76 years old doctor, but very agile for his age. Has back aches, headaches and rashes each day and has the time to complain about them. Very good at his job and heals those who are seriously wounded. Has also been struck by lightning several times and sometimes eats dead skin flakes for energy. The constant electroshock has permanently prevented him from growing body hair, save for his head. No other information.

**Dance Powder**: Illegal storm seeder item, steals rain from other countries.


	3. Fateful encounter of the worst kind

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Dusty and Herman belong to Kilnorc. And I'm hungry for some reviews!

Ch 3

The waters around the island were less choppy, as the anchor was dropped down into a small crevice below. Small wooden boats were lowered with 8 men apiece, each with a **'cheer guard'** to motivate rowing.

"This bites..." One of the seamen, a green-haired kid around 15 muttered, as he tried to get in rhythm with the others. "Why is it the Cannibal stays behind to guard the ship by herself? To send all of us seems like overk-" A hand clamped over his mouth by his rowing partner on his left side.

"Shhhhhh! Do you want to get the captain mad? You know Cresendo was only BORN on a cannibal island, she doesn't really eat live humans." The guy scolded his teammate in a harsh whisper.

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On board the ship...

"Soooooo tasty..." Cresendo said, chewing on the wanted poster of **Dusty** and licking **Herman the Lobster's** poster, blood dripping down her face. Her pointed teeth were bloody from biting and ripping out the pig's liver in the animal stockade, and her eyes were gleaming with unsatified hunger. "I can't wait to see how you taste."

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5 minutes later...

As soon as the boats hit shore, orders were given out to seperate crews into teams of 10. "I want a full analysis of the island's background, history and population by sundown. Also, I want you to ask the locals where that Dance powder came from and what the purpose of that giant antenna is for."

"Yes, sir!" The marines saluted as one, as they scattered in teams across the island. Gladyr was with them, using a wooden walking stick to move forward. Little did they know that they were being watched, as a long barrel pointed out of the northern factory. Loops of coiled wire ran around the barrel, with small magnets placed along the sides. The person behind it slowly revolved the barrel upon a certain target.

"Man, I will never get tired of ordering people around." Alto said, stretching out with a brief yawn. Requiem stood nearby, staring into space with a expressionless face. "Let's check out the factory first and see if there is any sign of illegal transport." Requiem nodded obediently, her eyes in a deep trance.

As they walked through the small town, Altos noticed something was a little off about the inhabitants. Quite frankly, they were always in a rush, had no social skills with a captain such as himself when he barked an order, and lacked fashion sense. After all, just about every person they came across was a lean but bulky 6 to 7 foot person in a non-revealing black trenchcoat that seemed to go all the way down to the feet (which looked like brown clown shoes), and what looked like a "beekeeper" helmet with that thick netting to prevent others from seeing the face. Unconciously, Requiem could tell many had puffy beards sticking out by only a few hairs, but she didn't want to say anything about it to the captain.

"...quiet..." She mumbled under her breath, feeling a slight unbalance in the area. A figure darted right past her, flipping her skirt (which she had replaced her pants with that morning as they were dirty and covered with soot) and dashed into a alleyway. Subconciously, she followed the figure as silent as a gravestone.

"What was that, Requiem? Requiem?" Alto stopped walking, then turned around realizing that his navigator had suddenly vanished into thin air. "Now where did she go off to?"

"Hands in the air." Alto winced as the sharp point of a rapier poked at his back, nearly piercing the skin. A tall shadow loomed over his own, meaning someone was trying to rob him from behind.

"Sure thing..." Slowly, Alto's arms went upwards, but his right pinky jerked a few times. On one of the buildings close by, a red brick that was not cemented as well as the rest slowly came out inch by inch.

"That's right, now I want you to listen good. We don't want your kind here. This is OUR island and you navy folk aren't allowed. So get back on that cruddy ship of yours and go back to your safe lives. Otherwis-" KLOCK! Whatever the jerk was about to say next was cut short as the brick came flying from the wall and knocked him out cold by striking the skull.

"My apologies for doing that, but I don't usually kill common thieves. My handiwork is for pirates 50 million or higher." Alto sighed, turning to face the lying prone form on the bricked floor. It was one of those trenchcoat people, lying flat on his/her face. But his butt and lower torso was still moving for some odd reason. "Huh? What's this now..." Alto bent down on his legs to poke the torso, only to find that half of the man was gone including the legs. BAANG! Alto's eyes widened in shock as a bullet ripped through his left shoulderblade. "What the heck?" That was when the hammer struck him, making him see stars dizzily as he fell backwards and was knocked out cold.

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"Ah...it feels so nice to get away once in a while." A seaman with flowing pink hair proclaimed, sitting on one of the boats docked on the shoreline. He and his team had already conducted a summary report on the town.

Apparently the island had been discovered about 134 years ago by explorers, then colonized to allow others to live on it. Supply ships come every month on the 12th day, in which the people living have to ration it. Trees have been cut down all over the place, and there have no sign of replanting them, as they have been used for the houses and for the targets. The shooting range has been closed for 3 months, and the people running it have been missing. Only the tall people in the trenchcoats have been spotted spying on the seamen, but were not taken into custody without orders. The mines also have been closed up by boards, and there have been no sign of the Sniper Lieutenant.

"Don't get too comfortable. I've served with the captain for about 2 years now, and nothing is as it seems." A seaman with a thick, curly mustasche said. That was the last words he said, before all heck broke loose. The long gun barrel from the factory hummed a few times as the wires became magnetized, then the trigger was pulled.

BLAMMMMMMMM! 9 of the 10 seamen were blown away into ash and blood, including two of the life boats were scrapped, as a 20 foot explosion of heat and debris overtook them from a extremely fast explosive shell. The one who remained, who was currently running a errand to deliver the news to the captain, was tripped by a small boot leading out of a alleyway. He tried to get up, only to get a dagger driven into the back of the skull, rendering him lifeless in a few seconds.

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"What the heck was that? Ohhh, I have such a splitting headache." Gladyr groaned, hearing the explosion not too far off. The seamen grouped closely, ready to defend themselves at all angles. Nearby, multiple 'inhabitants' wearing black trenchcoats shot out of homes, windows, and even rooftops began to pop out of the woodwork and began to surround them. Many were using broken pipes, others chain-whips and daggers.

"Heheh..." Many of them snickered, knowing that a group of 30 was no match against their numbers.

"What the heck is so damn funny?!?!?!" One of the seaman, a obnoxious brute who looked like he had been on steroids for a while yelled out. With a swift run out of the formation, he charged at the closest of the trenchcoat 'civilians' not even wincing as several daggers were thrown and jabbed into his skin. "**Linebacker Thrust Palm**!" He roared, drawing back a arm before he slammed it hard into the chest of the person.

"Oh dear...this isn't good." Gladyr muttered, as the fabric of the trenchcoat ripped in two, as the upper torso and head was sent flying fast into a brick wall.

"Oh yeah, who's the man!" The seaman boasted, flexing his muscles, unaware of the flintlock pistol slowly raising up from the pant's portion.

"LOOOK OUT, YOU FOOL!" Gladyr shouted out in warning, but it was too late. BLAMM! The back of the head exploded into skull fragments, and the seaman fell over dead. Gladyr looked on in shock as the numerous trenchcoats advanced on them, their blood-crazed eyes hidden by the beekeeper's helmets.

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**Cheer guard**: Motivational chatterbox with drums, with each pounding on a drum, the oars would turn in synchronization. If the crew moves faster, the drum beats irritate them in a way that they must stay on a set speed.

**Dusty**: Scout on the Axehead's ship, as well as entertainer despite the fact that she hasn't done a lot of entertaining on the ship.

**Herman the Lobster**: Despite the fact that he doesn't have a bounty, he was in a way responsible for taking down Miss Doublefinger. Thus, making him a threat to Navy ships as he could very easily destroy them from underneath. There is also the matter that he was part of Arlong's crew, and the navy believes that he may know where Arlong may be hiding as his body was never found.

**Linebacker Thrust palm**: Like most Navy men, playing sports on a ship quickens the time spent until land is sighted. Which is why some use various forms of sports and change them into combat martial arts. Unfortunately, they rarely work on pirates.


	4. Locked up! Oh, how ironic!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Nor do I own Crazyfishie's work since a devil fruit of that author is in this chapter. I do, however, own my characters despite the fact that they beat me up from time to time. I blame Drode.

Ch 4

It felt like a dream at first, but as Alto slowly opened his eyes, he could feel the intense pain from the billy club that followed after the gunshot, whapping him on the back of the head. 'I was too asleep to even notice that something was wrong...' He thought, recalling the fact that the upper body was still moving.

Getting up on his feet, which felt like nails were driven in, he noticed that he was enclosed in a very small room made of concrete, and facing him were several sets of iron bars. 'Am I in a prison? Where am I?' He wondered, cautiously approaching the bars.

"No guards, that I'm certain." He muttered, looking around the inside of the building. It was wide, with three different floors, and 3 large smokestacks in the center. A few hundred normal citizens walked back and forth with burlap bags, their necks and arms held in place by seastone chains, as the trenchcoats whipped any who failed to deliver a sack into the smokestack chimney. Others were by large iron vats, pouring in some sort of brown beans into it, some old geezers filled it with buckets of water, and small children kept a fire burning down below with firewood and burning coal.

"It's awful ain't it? Good thing I kept my mouth shut about knowing ya or otherwise we wouldn't be cellmates." A gentle yet snide comment came from the cell on the left, and a rich aroma of applesauce perfume entered Alto's nose, as his eyes widened.

"PRELU-"

"Keep your voice down, captain." His sniper scolded with a sharp whisper that silenced him for a few seconds.

"**Prelude**, what is going on here? I haven't heard from you in weeks." Alto asked, tapping on the steel bars to make sure they weren't made of seastone.

"What do you think? I was busy getting a nice hot shower over in the woman's hut after a nice bout of target practice, the kind in which the locals use reinforced body armor as they carry large round targets around. Then suddenly, someone swiped my navy clothes and guns, in which I was forced to break open a locker to obtain some. Then they came, about 40 or so, dogpiling me and shackling my wrists." Prelude muttered angrily in her cell, punching the wall rapidly until it slowly cracked apart.

"Umm...you said 'they'. Who is 'they'?" Alto asked, flexing his fingers now that the lack of sleep was over.

"Oh, you can't mess them, they're a bunch of-

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"Tiny men?" Gladyr proclaimed, his eyes bulging from their sockets. He was answered by a chain slap to the face, sending him back a little. The one who used the chain was the same person who fired the pistol, a 3'6" foot tall heavyset man with cruel eyes and a brown beard that went down to his waist. He was wearing what appeared to be a custom tailored black zoot suit and a Italian fedora with feather placed on his messy hair.

"We call ourselves normal humans with height problems, stupid!" The guy growled, spitting upon the crew with amazing distance with his yellow, unwashed teeth. "We be the **Red Dwarf Pirates**, one of the strongest pirate crews in these waters. No one will call us tiny or midgets when we're around!"

"Hear! Hear!" The other trenchcoats said, as they unfastened their clasps to reveal two dwarves standing on the other's shoulders. The group now changed from 15 to 30 in a matter of seconds as they circled the group. "We're sick and tired of being treated like scum! You lowlifes always kept us from getting ahead in life, always looking down on us because we're different. Like everyone else in this world, there is a glass ceiling to minors in which only the 'perfect' get to get what they always wanted!" They began to charge in for the kill, their blades searing and chains flying about.

For Gladyr, this was just another day of battle as his suitcases were unlocked.

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"The Red Dwarf Pirates? I never heard of them in the records." Prelude said, obviously surprised that the captain had just stated the name and occupation of those strangers who bound and gagged her, then left her to fend in the jail cell with only bad water and moldy bread.

"I'm not surprised. There's many pirates that are anonymous to the Navy, but not to the Gorosei. The Red Dwarf pirates are a faction of the Revolutionaries, which stands to destroy the World Government and rewrite the laws in order to cause chaos throughout the world, increasing their bounties along with each island they conquer. The Red Dwarves are well known to be massive drug dealers on the black market, including mind altering drugs, opium and Dance Powder, as well as delivering slaves to countries for hard profit. However, according to rumor, the Red Dwarve's leader always has back-up members to take his place, so even if a plan fails, he would always be safe to continue his ways." Alto said calmly, as he flung his hands at the steel bars. "Full Hand Shredders." There was a small ting, then another and another, and soon the bars were ripped apart.

With a sly grin plastered on his face, he calmly walked out of the cell and turned to the cell that his crew member was in. "**Twin Finger Snip**." He said quietly, making a hand sign that looked like scissors opening and closing. The cell door caved in and imploded upon itself, shifting downwards in a shrill 'groan' before breaking into pieces.

A young woman in white arabian dancer clothes and black high heel shoes greeted him with a slap to the face as soon as she came out, noticing he was staring at her bellydancer outfit. Her light blonde hair was tied into a long ponytail and was fair skinned. Her yellow pupils glared holes through her captain as her coconut-sized fist was smoking red. "You're lucky that they took my weapons or otherwise I'd flash fry ya in an instant."

"Lucky me..." Alto's eyes were bleeding from the intense pain that Prelude had inflected. Getting out a handkerchief, he wiped it off and began to go over to the nearest stairwell. "Well, if they took your weapons, they obviously have them nearby."

"That reminds me, they'll be executing a Navy scientist in a half hour. We have to stop them before they succeed!" Prelude said, following him in hot pursuit.

"Why? We have to consider the men first, I sent them out to gather information on the island." Alto asked, starting to make his way down the steps.

"Because he's the main reason I came to this island, one of Vegapunk's students, the acclaimed **Professor Mindrake**! If he's killed, we might lose one of the Navy's latest weapons to the Red Dwarves!" Prelude answered, jumping down to the first floor without any hestiation, landing gracefully on both feet. Which stunned most of the people down below since she was on the fifth floor.

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"...Weak..." Requiem muttered, looking at the 2 dozen Red Dwarf pirates grinning devilishly at her. For some reason, she had somehow picked up some piked tonfas, which she used to nail the first 3 in the face and chest.

"Oh, come on now, girlie! We know that you are one of the Navy, so why don't you lie on the ground like a good woman and let us have some fun?" One of the pirates snickered, charging in with a padded mace.

Requiem side-stepped his charge, barely registering him as a threat, as she plunged one of the sharp pikes into his stomach. Blood spewed out of the pirates mouth, as well as her own for he had managed to land a blow, but it tasted delicious on her lips. "...**Baal Soul Swallower**..." In an instant, the tonfa vanished and was sucked inside the pirates chest, causing the pirate to double over and fall to his knees. His wails of terror started up and ended in a mere second, as his ribcage shattered from within, and his heart stopped beating as the blood became clogged. Oxygen stopped flowing through the veins, and the pirate died quickly.

The other pirates backed up slowly, not knowing how to handle this 'weirdo' as she stared straight through them with a icy gaze. Behind her, black specks floated in large groups in the form of wolves, snapping and clawing, their forms becoming more and more solid with each passing second.

"To heck with this! You're dead!" One of them yelled, firing off 3 rounds from his flintlock pistol. The bullets didn't even come close as the wolves surged in front of her, devouring the bullets with ease and laughing evilly with Requiem's voice.

"...**Belphegor Hounds**..." There was no mercy in her voice, for she had none for those who held darkness in their hearts. The pirates screamed, running for their lives as the smoky nasty-looking wolves gave chase, with Requiem dragged along like a rag doll with the smoky black reins held firmly around her waist, hurting her stomach considerably. Even then, she stayed expressionless as parts of her navy shirt and pants were ripped up a bit.

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"I just hope the Lady Requiem is alright! These guys are savage!" One of the seamen said, protecting his fellow crewman from a swordblow with his nodachi.

"Trust me, as one of the top Navigators, she has more than a few tricks up her sleeve, and that includes her Paramecia fruit ability: **Magnet Magnet**." Another said, trying to cut apart another pirate who kept kicking him in the shin and acrobatically jumping away to avoid a sword slash.

"Don't you mean, Magna Magna?" One of the swabbies asked, blasting away at the hordes closing in.

"Different fruit, different powers. It turns the user to become a Eternal Pose that can use the magnetic wavelengths of this world and control small pieces of metal and combine them together. But as a result, the person's soul would turn a full 180 degrees and leave them as cold as those minature robot toys. Requiem will remain that way for the rest of her life, until the day she either dies or drowns." Gladyr said, as 4 pirates were slain by a barrage of syringes with high dosages of morphine.

"**Long stretch**!" Getting out a tube of compression bandages, he flung it at the nearest pirate and bent his wrist in order to unravel it, binding the pirate in a thick cocoon in which the harder the victims tries to break out, the tighter it will get until the body is broken down. "Let's give them heck, boys!" The other marines cheered, moving quickly into seperate 1-on-1 battles with the large number of pirates.

The large barrel of the gun began to hum silently, as a new lightning bolt struck the tower and entered the hidden wires that led into the factory. It was now traveling faster and faster now up the different floors that Alto and Prelude were fighting their way down on, until it settled straight to the top floor of the building and sent the electrical charge into the high powered gun. A power guage was shifting a thin needle a few inches into the green area. "40 percent, eh? Marcus, go down to help the boys out with the infestation, and send a large group into the ship. No doubt they had taken treasure into their brig for funding the World Government."A sly, yet gruff voice said into a gray Den-den Mushi with a fedora hat behind a thick metal plated chair with sofa padding, as the gun shifted over to the pirate ship. "For as soon as they unload everything, I'll make sure that NO ONE comes here again."

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**Prelude**: Crackshot sniper with a reputation for chest and headshots, holds several medals for service and protecting the captain. Likes to be clean and neat, but hates stealing from others. Is one of the few who can seriously hurt Alto mentally and physically in his crew. 19 years old.

**Red Dwarf Pirates**: A 140 million combined crew with large numbers and mastery of gang-related weapons. They prefer pillaging and have a leader who hides in the shadows with many posing as him, and work for Dragon and teh other Revolutionaries.

**Professor Mindrake**: A student of Vegapunk, high IQ, no fighting skills, gifted in making technological weapons and discoveries. Prelude has a slight crush on him.

**Baal Soul Swallower**: Cuts off the blood and destroys the ribcage as hundreds of tiny iron figaments bounce around inside the body, requires impaling of target's chest. Close range attack.

**Belphegor Hounds**: Mid-range attack, forms shadowy, hazy adult wolves made of hundreds of iron fillings, acting as a shield. Jaws can clamp into a person to bite down, but lacks any other form of attack. Since it is part of her, Requiem is forced to come with them as they chase down pirates.

**Magna Magna**: Opposite of what Magnet Magnet can do, can control large metal objects and such, has no ill effects on emotions and the mind.

**Magnet Magnet**: Described. However, it has other unique abilities as well, and mades the victim unable to feel pain. This in turn makes them a sadist for combat.

**Long Stretch**: Unlike other crews, Gladyr specialities in casts and bandages, then lets the crew take over when the victim is binded. Fast yet accurate, can constrict around a person with one throw, turning their strength against them.


	5. Breakout and light it up!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, Oz would be dead by now and I mean dead as in his shadow removed and Moria getting the crap kicked out of his ugly mug.

Ch 5

"Yeeeeeeeerggggh!" Prelude yelled, bashing in the nose of one of the pirates hunched on each other's shoulders. She noticed that their teamwork was quite impressive, forming human shields in order to protect their fellow man with thick armored plates on their chests and provided pistol reloading. Alto was currently freeing the other citizens from their cages, so he wasn't going to be much help, and her navy jacket was in the center of the floor.

A knive was lounged in her right thigh by one of the bastards, but she moved swiftly through the gunshots, using her veil to decipher which gun fired and which of the pirates fired it from. She studied normal fighting from her sensei at the Navy Academy, which was more than enough as she jabbed her ring and middle fingers into a fluffy bearded pirate's nostrils to pick him up and threw him at the charging pirates. They fell over like dominoes upon impact.

"**3 Finger Cleave**." Alto whispered, as the pirate in front of him lost both his arms vertically, and then his legs horizonally, in one sweep of his hand.

"Look at that! Red strings!" One of the pirates screamed in terror, pointing at the blood-soaked strands which were retracting from the pirate's body. "He truly is the Devil's Assistant, the Captain who always kills for the bounty!"

"Is that a devil's fruit?" Another proclaimed, right before his skull was torn in half.

"No! The strings are attached to the fingers! Aim for the hands!" A pirate said, managing to get past the strings now that they could be seen, only to find himself flipped and thrown over the edge, plummeting with a shrill scream to his death.

"**Jujutsu style: Crimson Tide Throw**." Alto smirked, his nose currently bleeding from the slap. 'This isn't good, I can only throw them if they dodge my strings. And it might not be effective on the heavier red dwarf pirates.'

"Attack!" One of the officers yelled, as they surged in from all sides, trying to avoid the strings.

"**4 Finger Spin-Shredder**." His words were hollow and icy, as the red strings revolved around him, as his feet nimbly spun in place. Bodies were torn apart, skulls were bashed together and many choked to death before their throats were ripped in half. The strings were now drenched in blood, as well as some of his Navy uniform.

"What kind of Navy man is he? They don't execute pirates like this!" One of them wailed, now with a stump of an arm since he wasn't that close to the dome of bladed strings.

"I'm not like most Navy men, I'm a professonial Marine with the ability to kill high ranked pirate crews, for the **Gorosei** had assigned me to take the pirates out one by one." Alto sneered, then split the pirate in two from skull to butt.

"Save some for me, boss!" Prelude said, sliding underneath the legs of a slightly taller pirate in order to get to the armory table a few feet away. Her jacket was lying on the table by itself, mainly untouched because of the various booby traps that Prelude had put around it. Snatching in one single motion, she disabled the traps in order to bring out the two very odd gatling-type guns with large barrels.

"Oh, snap! She's bringing out the artillery! Duck and cover!" Several pirates yelled, using tables and hostages to protect them.

Prelude grinned wickedly, her eyes already setting multiple targets and calculating areas in which she would fire shots without harming the hostages. "You'll have to do better than that to prevent Prelude of the Light Brigade Firing Squad from doing her job!** Flare Bullets**!" FWOOSH! FWOOOSH! FWOOOSH! FWOOOSH! Multiple flares fired out of the barrels as the trigger was held, allowing the chambers to be refilled by more flares. It was a new prototype flare gun that could hold up to six rounds each, for emergency rescues and such, but redesigned for battle purposes.

She winced as a bullet grazed her leg as she strafed, firing away and reloading to save as many citizens as possible. Those who were struck by the flares screamed as their flesh melted from the intense heat and ran around until their bodies were completely consumed. Civilians ducked and rolled to put out the flames if they failed to get out of the grip. Bringing out a few yellow orbs, she threw them into the upper floors.

"Captain, shield your eyes and ears! **Flashbang Nova**!" A deafening 300 dB SPL sound was heard, followed by a massive flash of light which both cut off the pirates hearing and sight for a few minutes. Prelude, wearing protective earmuffs and high density sunglasses, was shielded against the effects as she continued sniping and reloading her guns.

A loud thud could be heard as Prelude noted that her captain had fallen down a path of stairs due to being blinded by accident. "Sorry, Captain! I guess I should have waited until you got your sunglasses on!"

"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!" Alto yelled, trying to see and chopping up the stairbase behind him, sending many pirates to their doom below. "WHO TURNED OFF THE LIGHTS! OW!" He began to run into a brick wall a few times before falling down another flight of stairs. Prelude shook her head at her captain's weirdness.

----------------------

"...All opponents have fallen..." Requiem muttered, her eyes as dim as a broken radio with no antenna. All around her, Red Dwarf pirates were lying down with their ribcages imploded. Her tonfas vanished into iron fillings which disappeared into her bags which were carried by ropes along her thin waist.

With a brief glance, she began to walk towards the large structure that was absorbing the lightning. "..." She stepped over the dead bodies, making sure they were disposed of by listening for heartbeats and any vibration of the skin. That was another of her unique abilities that make her a dangerous person in the navy. One of the pirates playing dead didn't know that, in which a serpent made of iron fillings drilled a hole through his skull, murdering him in an instant.

It didn't matter if the Navy had orders to keep pirates alive or not, the captain and his sub-commanders were given permission to kill on sight since their boat lacked cells and areas to put the pirates under lock-down. She couldn't cre either way, human life was meaningless to her.

A sour yet piercing whistle could be heard, as a Red Dwarf pirate in a snazzy purple zoot suit with striped fur collars and tie came out, carrying a bronze cane with a diamond on top. His brown beard was a lot more sleek than the others, and he had 4 earrings on each ear. "Yo, darling! Name's **Marcus**, and I see you just took out my bling crew. I wouldn't blame you for that, since I lifted that skirt of yours to take a peek."

Requiem just stared at Marcus for a moment, before answering. "...You're dead..."

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	6. Duel of the Emotions: Iron vs Concrete!

Disclaimer: I can't own One Piece. Nor do I own Chizuru from Kilnorc's fic which is way better than mine. Thank god that Drode is not hassling my writing speed, as that muse is nothing but trouble.

Ch 6

"Oh, so I'm dead, dollface? Heh, you should learn to respect mah authority!" Marcus grinned, his bushy mustache perked up as he twirled his cane for a moment. "**Cement Cement Wheel**!" As the cane spun, a grayish substance formed around his hand and flowed around the cane in a circular motion, until it became a thick ring around his cane. It quickly hardened, just as Marcus threw the thick 'car tire-sized' ring at Requiem.

Requiem didn't even blink as it went over her body and then tightened around the waist, preventing her from using her arms. Marcus laughed, pointing awkwardly at her. "This is the power of a sub-commander? No one can defeat my **Cement Cement** power, as although it's not a Logia type, it is just as deadly as that Mr. 3's Wax Wax power! Now..." Bringing out both hands towards her, more of the gray liquid formed around his fingers. "**Cement Shoes Imprisonment**!" FWOOOSH! A thick spray of wet cement struck Requiem's legs, encasing them and then hardening them into a thick cement cylinder.

Requiem just looked at Marcus with a blank stare, as if she didn't even notice that she was trapped and unable to move away. "..."

Marcus's face reddened, as his eyebrows curved in slight disgust. "What's the matter, toots? Cat got your tongue? Well, maybe I should get a little life into those pale cheeks of yours!" His tongue licked his lips hungrily as he walked forward in order to deliver a powerful slap across the face. Requiem's cheek was marked, but her neck didn't sway and her eyes never closed. Marcus's eyes widened in shock over this, even as he pounded away like her with more kicks and punches, even adding cement around his fists to induce damage to no avail. "W-what! Not even a flinch? What the heck are you?"

"..." Requiem continued to stare blankly at Marcus, her eyes drilling right through him as if he didn't exist.

Another slap, then a strong right punch, then a left came from Marcus as he proceeded to beat the crud out of Requiem's face. "Stop the silent treatment and say something, you broad! I want youseve, Yost, Bose, Duse, Jose, Mose, Muse, Rose, Wyo's, Yule, dose, fuse, hose, lose, muse, nose, nous, pose, rose, ruse, sous, yoke, yore, yule" / to scream bloody murder but youseve, Yost, Bose, Duse, Jose, Mose, Muse, Rose, Wyo's, Yule, dose, fuse, hose, lose, muse, nose, nous, pose, rose, ruse, sous, yoke, yore, yule" / act like youseve, Yost, Bose, Duse, Jose, Mose, Muse, Rose, Wyo's, Yule, dose, fuse, hose, lose, muse, nose, nous, pose, rose, ruse, sous, yoke, yore, yule" / don't feel a thing! Stop looking at me like that!" Marcus stepped back a ways to admire his handiwork, but Requiem looked impassive and expressionless despite the bruises and the black eye that Marcus did to her.

"Grr...what the heck is wrong with you! I know my fists aren't that soft, so why are youseve, Yost, Bose, Duse, Jose, Mose, Muse, Rose, Wyo's, Yule, dose, fuse, hose, lose, muse, nose, nous, pose, rose, ruse, sous, yoke, yore, yule" / acting so weird! Answer me!" Marcus practically screamed, spitting upon Requiem, only to recieve no vocal answer. Multiple veins popped along his forehead, as a thick layer of gray liquid formed around his arms and legs. "I usually reserve this attack for those who actually put up a fight, but your attitude is really getting on my nerves! **Cement Cement Armor Plus**!" The result of this was a thick suit of armor similar to a knight, but with long horns on the helment, spiked-out shoulderpads, a cup between the legs and that it fit his small frame. His hands were abnormally large now, due to the cement gloves that covered them.

"Heeheehee! This thing weighs less than air due to the intense training my boss gave me, as although it is hardened, I can easily move around freely!" Marcus crowed wickedly as he moved one of his arms in front, aiming straight at Requiem's face. "You had your chance to cry out! But torture time is over! Now I'll kill you and then every single one of your crew members! **Cement Rifle Fist**!" The giant fist telescoped straight out, stretching by multiple thin strands of wet cement as the original fist stood in it's place to keep it balanced.

"...**Astaroth Splitter**..." Requiem said coldly, as a iron sword appeared before her, chopping the fist apart before it could get close to her face. Cracks formed along the cement shoes and torso, as tiny, tiny iron fragments broke through and hovered around her like a black mist. She was lucky that the sword formed in time, as the iron fragments were merely small puzzle pieces that needed time to bond and merge together into a solid object, but then falls apart afterwards due to the high concentration of opposing magnetic forces around the islands.

Marcus really looked ticked off now, as he lifted up his hands to spew out a large stream of wet cement into the sky, laughing wickedly. He saw what she could do now, so he wasn't going to take any chances against any new techniques that she could unleash. "You've done it now, girly! Not even 9 digit-worth bounty pirates can handle my Highway to Hell technique! I'll turn you into one of the sculptures at my brother's museum with this!" He laughed, as the stream widened considerably into 20 feet, then thinned out to 4 feet in length.

Requiem looked unfazed, closing her eyes and began to chant in an unknown tongue as the iron fillings swirled around her rapidly. The concrete encasings shattered doing so, freeing her and allowing full movement of her body. Slowly but surely, the small fillings came together, each one lining up and fusing with a comparable piece to fit and attach, growing and reshaping themselves with each passing second.

Marcus noticed this, but felt that the 3 small arrowheads that were being made were no real threat to him or his ultimate attack. The stream looked very much like a concrete road, and was beginning to sway back and forth, ready to squash and engulf anything or anyone in it's path. After all, he planned to push Requiem six feet under the ground, like a flyswatter vs a ladybug. "Say good-bye, woman! **Highway to Hell**!" He yelled, swinging down the cement road down upon her.

"...**Lucifuge's Trident**..." Requiem coldly announced, as the three arrowheads were now the size of watermelons, launching themselves out like rockets towards the large 'carpet' of cement and rapidly spinning in place as Requiem's eyes glowed faintly, the coordinates and trajectories locked in, all the math being done in her head.

"Bah! What can that measly attack do-" Marcus was cut short, his eyes widening as the metallic missiles chewed up the pavement like drills, breaking it down part by part. Chunks of wet cement fell down upon the huts, as the large arrowheads thrashed straight through the road in a straight line, chopping it up into rubble and continuing on. "Oh, geez! **Cement Cement Tekkai**!" Placing his hands on his armor, Marcus grew in density and height, his block-shaped armor increasing weight and size to protect him from harm. "Nice try, girly! But this is just as effective as a CP9 Tekkai! No way those BBs will pierce through!"

"...End game...**Lucifer's spear**..." Requiem's eyes buzzed, unable to hear or see anything around her as the iron fillings within the arrowheads merged together through magnetic attraction, thinning out and reshaping drastically in a short period of time.

Her headache was growing worse, but she endured as if it was nothing to her. To her, Marcus did not exist, but in his place was the same person that she had seen in her nightmares, a red haired girl with almond-colored eyes and a near-perfect body with a dagger which was slick with the blood of her parents as a large man, the pirate captain in charge of the redhead, congraduated her as Requiem could only watch as the girl burnt down the house without any torches with Requiem inside it. The red head was laughing, laughing at her for no reason and Requiem wanted nothing more than to make her head pop like a balloon.

Marcus never stood a chance, his mouth spewing blood by the pint upon the damaged armor as Requiem took her flashback, his lungs and heart impaled by the 20 foot long metal spear that pierced through the dense hardened concrete. "H-how? My armor can't be penerated!" He stammered, the blood loss was increasing as the iron fillings began to infiltrate the blood vessels. "Just wait until my big brother **Jerome** hears about this! He has the highest ranking earth Logia fruit: **Crystal Crystal**, and he'll break you apart like a onion string!"

"...Finishing Move: **Beelzebub's Judgement**..." Tightening her fist as soon as she felt that all the pieces were in alignment in the hands, feet, ankles, face, neck, elbows, stomach, ribcage, and butt, Marcus's entire body was shredded by the hundreds of iron spikes shooting throughout, killing him instantly and then liquidated him. To say the least, there was no flesh nor bone left behind, just a bloody puddle around the broken down armor which was cracking apart. Requiem felt no sympathy nor hatred now, only vengeful to kill the one who had destroyed her life in the past and destroy her from within. With that, she left a iron filling-made rose on the cement rubble and went off.

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At the same time, Prelude finished off the last group of pirates in the building, standing over their burnt bodies in order to reach the front door. Reloading new flash-bangs and flares, she shoved the doors open to see a hanging site over by the port, mainly a big tree with a noose hanging down, and a frail person with a burlap sack over his head. "Don't worry, professor! I'm coming to save you!" She yelled, running towards him despite the large gathering of pirates surrounding him with knifes and chains. Taking a rather large saw blade from her ammo belt, she threw it towards the crowd with expert accuracy to take out the first row. "**Twilight Slayer**!"

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As for the captain, he stumbled blindly into a closet-like room, his vision hazy and his hearing fuzzy, bouncing off the walls until he hit a array of buttons on a metal plate with his forehead. "Ow..." He groaned, backing away a bit unable to see what was going on as the entrance that he went through closed, and the gravity increased a bit as the room seemed to go upwards by some unknown force. If he could hear well, he could listen to the sounds of hundreds of thousands of pincers opening and closing, thirsting for blood. But for the moment, he was trying to get his vision back all the way as he was only a few floors away from reaching the top.

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**Cement Cement Wheel**: Basic Projectile technique, can trap arms and legs, or bean someone hard. Hardens on contact.

**Cement Cement**: Paramercia type fruit. User emits wet cement that can be used in different ways and increases fighting strength.

**Cement Shoes Imprisonment**: Can go all the way up to the chest, perfect of immobilizing Devil Fruit users and normal civilians. Extremely hard to break.

**Cement Cement Armor Plus**: Looks similar to Mr. 3's Wax Armor, only box-like and a round half-sphere helmet with mouth and eye holes. Can take a lot of abuse but is vulnerable from the inside. Some parts are weaker in density than other parts in order for the user to move freely.

**Cement Rifle Fist**: High level Cement long-range attack. Said to completely overpower a navy fleet as it expands and hardens as the longer it gets. Said to be on par with Ace's Fire Fist, but if it is at mid-range, it's power is not at it's fullest.

**Astaroth Splitter**: Requiem's short range attack outside of tonfas. It was formed behind her back as she was getting punched. Very sharp, cannot be held in her hands. Can only be maintained for a minute's time.

**Highway to Hell**: Since I hate a long drawn out battle, this is basically Marcus's ultimate finishing move. Imagine, a road being made out of nothing and falling right on you. No doubt you would be flattened and probably buried as the cement hardens around you, making it hard to breathe.

**Lucifuge's Trident**: Drill-type long range attack. If one of the drills is destroyed, it loses the ability to spin, making the attack useless. It was only strong enough to pierce through as the road was half made of wet cement, as it can't break dense objects like boulders or steel girders. Leaves her completely open to short range attacks as she needs her full attention.

**Cement Cement Tekkai:** Going up against a lot of government agents, Marcus learned how to harden his cement to be nearly indestructible. However, parts of it are soft, and easy to break through with the right RPM.

**Lucifer's Spear**: By combining the three arrowheads at a critical time, this is a piercing attack that can break through thick objects. But can only be used once and only once, as if the opponent manages to survive before Beelzebub's Judgement is used, then the iron fillings will take about a minute to detach and come back to her, leaving her completely defenseless.

**Jerome**: Owner of a large museum dedicated to the Earth and Marcus's big brother. Extremely powerful and has defeated many swordsmen who attempted to learn how to cut his diamond-hard skin.

**Crystal Crystal**: Logia fruit, possibly the strongest of the Terra elements. Unbreakable, reflects sunlight and turns it into lasers, morphs body parts into large diamond swords, causes the ground to spike upwards to impale, encases people in a diamond shell.

**Beelzebub's Judgement**: High level metal control attack, destroys body and mind from within. But once again, requires focus. If anything distracts her, the technique would fail.

**Twilight Slayer**: Prelude's deadly technique, uses a metal saw blade that is incapable of returning to her. However, unlike her flares, it can cut through armor and flesh but is in limited quantity due to size and weight. Can also be used when the sun is out, blinding opponents for a moment as it cuts right through them. Also can be used as her short range defensive weapon.


	7. Unseen and deadly, a Predator Onboard!

I don't own One Piece. I own my characters though, even though they hog the sheets and snore loudly.

Ch 7

"Need my pills for this one..." Gladyr muttered, one eye swollen and blackened, as he faced down the latest threat. It was a tag-team duo, one with a red beard, the other with a blond beard. Many men attempted to stop them, but were quickly taken out. Taking out a pill from a capsule, he chewed down on it, allowing the painkillers to run through his body.

"Let's get him bro!" The two yelled together, bringing out crude mallets with spikes forcefully applied to them. They were known as the **Sledgers**, special pirate assassins with a large quantity of mallets and hammers hidden upon their person. Their combined bounty was 23.5 million berri, but still a match for any Navy person.

Gladyr felt the familar buzz of the painkillers and morphine running through his veins, swaying like a drunken co-worker. Laughing and hiccuping, he narrowly avoided the strikes, moving back and forth giggling. The two growled, moving at him with powerful swipes, only for him to duck and roll laughing, then struck them both in the butt with a somersault back-kick with both legs.

"Yeow!" The two yelled out in pain, stumbling a bit as Gladyr wobbled back to his feet. He grinned slyly, then began to rub his hands rapidly against the fabric of his corduory jeans.

"Eat this! **Hammer Rainfall**!" The two said together, getting out a burlap sack and throwing it overhead on top of Gladyr. The bag split open, as dozens of metal hammers fell down. Gladyr didn't seem to move, continuing to rub his pants in his hands repeatedly, even as the hammers pelted him wildly, damaging his skull, shoulders and back but in response, he felt nothing at all.

"It will take more than that to take me down, boys." Gladyr winked, his hands now glowing with a white tint. Using his arm to mop off the blood, he walked towards them with his hands wide open. Truthfully, he would be in serious pain later on, but nothing short of a cannonball or a ax to the face could take him out with the painkillers operational.

"Then take this!" The blond beard bent down so the red beard could vault on his back, in order to jump higher. "**Alley Oop Crash**!" Getting out a heavy 90 lb sledgehammer, the red beard swung down upon Gladyr.

"Come now, is that your best?" Gladyr giggled, falling backwards suddenly as the sledgehammer missed him by mere inches, then curved to the right side to avoid a sweep-strike, then caught it by the wood handle before it would be swung again, shoving it downwards as he used his other hand to slap the Red Beard's hand.

"Yeeeooouch!" The red beard shouted, as a single jolt of electricity caused the assassin to drop his hammer out of shock. Oddly though, his right hand was now numb and as soggy as a wet noodle.

"Don't stop now, we're just getting started!" Gladyr laughed, continuing to bleed from various areas as he rubbed his pants, then brushed the side of the blond beard's leg. A single spark jolted the man, as he lost his footing due to the fact that the ankle had 'fallen asleep' and went limp. With a cry of anger, the red beard tossed a heavy hammer which bashed Gladyr's foot, breaking several bones as a result.

Unfortunately, he only chuckled, unable to understand the vicious pain running throughout his body, as he continued to rub his pants and 'zap' exposed parts of the two's bodies, slowly disabling their motor functions. As a doctor, he had acute understanding of static build-up, as well as the knowledge of nerve endings and how they need a electrical impulse to function properly. With the right amount of static in his fingers, he could temporarily disrupt the flow and close the nerve endings for a short time with 'acupuncture hand motions'. But to do that, the painkillers would be needed as the static electicity could easily backfire and give him a stroke or two, as it had occured a few times in the past.

The two fell over, their knees and elbows disabled, squating with their stomachs as they attempted to get back up. However the best they could do was lurch forward like slugs.

"That's enough out of you two. **Cast Mummication**!" Getting out a thick roll of cemented guaze, he quickly wrapped thick wet plaster cotton bandages around their bodies, avoiding their futile biting and throwing around their limp body parts in order to knock him over. He was still a bit dizzy though, so in a few minutes time, the two assassins were essentially put into full body casts, with the wet plaster starting to harden. Gladyr grinned, listening to their muffled cries of despair and inner torture, when the drugs wore off, knocking him out cold with the intense injuries and blood loss.

"Here he is! Lieutenant Gladyr! We're arrived!" A marine seaman said, as a team of 6 came over to assist the wounded doctor. They were carrying flintlock rifles with spray pellets as the ammo on their backs, but they also carried stretchers and first-aid kits, as well as cross emblems with lightning bolts on their sleeves. They were known as the **Voltage Cross Medic Corps**, Gladyr's personal group for handling deep wounds and internal pains like broken bones or poisons. "Don't worry, sir. We'll get you back on your feet in no time. One of you light a signal flare and locate a rowboat back to the ship. Two of you will have to lock up the guys in casts in the brig, since they will be confined and then sent to Impel Down like the rest of the remaining Red Dwarf pirates."

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Back at the ship, a pinewood rowboat was docked nearby, fastened by numerous grappling hooks which kept it from moving away. Yet, despite the two dozen footprints placed on the outside hull, there was only one Red Dwarf pirate on board and he was now missing a left leg. Blood was splattered along the wooden decks, in the cargo hold and in the bedrooms, as well as large claw marks on the doors and walls.

The pirate, aka Jackson, was trying not to scream as he slowly limped towards the side of the ship unarmed. He once had a saber, but he had lost it during the fight. 'How could this have happened? It was just one girl!' He thought, shuddering from the awful images that appeared in his mind.

It was a simple operation devised by the boss, climb up the ship, kill the guards protecting it, loot them of food, ammunition, gunpowder and anything valuable, then leave the ship so the boss could sink it with his ultimate weapon. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple as they only managed to get on board. Splitting into 5 groups of 4 was not the best of plans made, as one of the groups met up with the girl who was currently eating a pig raw.

It was the screaming that alerted the other groups, but they figured that it was the ship guards getting killed. But with their own guard down, they began to be picked off one by one as they explored the ship. Whatever the girl was, she made sure that the bodies would never be found, but left trails of blood in her wake for some of them to follow. He was one of the few who realized that several walls were converted into hidden passageways when a certain piece of wood was pressed.

However, that proved futile as the girl somehow dragged his nakama into the darkness and ripped them to shreds. Jackson thought he saw a eyeball lying around on the floor, but when he bent down, a fast gust of wind went past behind him as the pirate behind him was swiftly taken into another hidden entrance which closed behind her.

It wasn't as if they couldn't do anything about it. Those who he met up with claimed to have shot at her in the dark, or slashed with their chains, but she seemed to be highly agile. "A **zoan**-user." was what they agreed on, even though she was obsured in darkness. One of them said that he managed to pierce her shoulder, but that only made her go ballistic in a blind rage for a few minutes, slaughtering his nakama and ripping off their heads with her large carnivious jaws. That man was later lifted off the ground as she had been roaming on the ceiling with her claws, and then torn in half like a bratwurst. Jackson never found his body afterwards.

Still, it was a known fact that carnivous zoan were among the strongest, but it didn't look like any zoan fruit that was listed in the books. Jackson was able to get back on deck, but the others were cornered as the door slammed behind him. There was no yells of terror, or cries of pain, just silence. His leg was one of the casualities, as she tried to pull him back in with a large Powerhouse-level furry claw, her yellow eyes gleaming with a unsatisfied hunger and a large set of jaws.

Now she was done with them, as the ship went as silent as a graveyard, and was now slowly walking towards him with a flowing stream of drool and blood coming from her muzzle. Her long shadow dwarfed him by 3 times over as he attempted to hop towards the edge for safety, as she pounced for the kill with her mouth wide open. He was dead before he even reached the rowboat, as Cresendo happily chewed on his corpse, reverting back to human form doing so.

'The captain is going to be so happy when I tell him that I thwarted a invasion!' She thought, wagging a black shaggy tail with a white stripe lined across the top of it as she continued to eat her meal. With the amount of pirates she took down, she'll be eating merrily for several months and no one would suspect a thing. Then her mood became depressed when she realized that as Cabin Girl, she had to mop up all the blood and gore before the captain and the seaman got back or they would have her do all sorts of nasty chores like scrubbing outhouses and cleaning up old Gandyr's dead flaky skin, foot fungus and old war scars by hand. "I hate my job..." She pouted, her appetite slipping away.

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Hammer Rainfall: High accuarcy attack, can cover a large radius and deal heavy damage. Hammers range from 1 to 12 pounds, as the bag carries over a hundred metal hammers.

Alley Oop Crash: Proximity attack, uses jumping ability to increase velocity and weight of the mallet. Known to shatter thick armor.

Cast Mummication: One of Gladyr's signature attacks and medicine practices. Mostly used after paralyzing with static, can last a while as long as the cast is not tampered with.

Voltage Cross Medic Corps: Gladyr's personal squad of doctors and trap setters. Well known to repair broken bones and flesh with surgery and he latest in medical tecnology available. Capable of handling large navy crews and healing them within a few months time.

Zoan-Animal Type fruit. Land or air, grounded animal or bird. Reptile as well.


	8. Bug out, Captain Alto!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. And if I did, I would have turned that hockey stick into a rifle since hockey pucks cannot turn into ice bombs.

Ch 8

"Heh...like shooting turtles in a glass jar..." A sly, yet jerkish voice said, as a long, long gun barrel had been revolved a full 180 degrees to face the 'elevator' door. The wires were fully charged with the continuous lightning strikes, and the generators were maxed out along the three electromagnet coils around the barrel. Even a already magnetized iron shell with gunpowder had been loaded into the weapon that he had such fondness for.

It didn't matter who was coming up at this point, his friends in hiding told him already that the captain had been sent up to this room by accident. Even if he brought one of his nakama, he would still shoot the projectile to kill the bastard captain. True, according to his friends, a good portion of his army had been decimated as well as his strongest followers, but they were easily replaceable if the second part of his plan went underway.

"Heaheahea...I've got you now, Altos of the Crimson Strings of Fate." The mysterious figure said, his breathing rasping each time. Ding! The doors went open, and the person pulled the ignition switch as the coils hummed to life and exerted a heavy opposite force on the bullets. Thus, the bullet zoomed in with the impact of a SCUD missile, blowing up the elevator as well as 1/4 of the room and caused several floors to crumble. "Heaheahea! So much for the so-called legendary capt-huh?"

Although part of the elevator was destroyed, a small section of it was lodged into the floor in which a human hand was clinging for dear life. Struggling with some of his navy clothes torn and small scrapes, Altos got up and managed to get on the black carpet, feeling out of breath for the moment.

"What...the heck was that? And who are you?" He breathed heavily, his vision slowly clearing up as well as his hearing since he didn't shout this time.

"I am your DOOM!" The hazy figure with the gas mask said, as a new bullet was loaded in by a equipped spring-clip canister. FWOOOSH! The trigger was pulled, but Alto quickly scrambled away as it blew another part of the wall apart, as well as a nearby house which exploded into dust.

'Geez, that's even stronger than a cannon ball! What is that thing?' Alto thought, running along the wall as portions of it were annihilated in single shots. The bullets began to blow up various parts of the town, as well as where the Marines were currently arresting pirates. Luckily no one was killed during that time.

"Hold still!" The hazy figure hissed, shifting the barrel with his automated moving platform as he continued to fire off more rounds towards him.

That was when Alto smiled a bit, as he finally caught on the mechanism of the weapon. "**1 Finger Cleave and Snatch**!" He said, whipping out one of his strings outwards. Even if it was visible now, the figure failed to stop it from reaching the trigger. SNIKT! "Now you have no weapon left to fight with. Give up awhile you can." Alto said, retracting the hair-trigger into his hand and then placed it inside his pocket.

"Heh...you seriously think that I can be stopped with one set-back? That has been pre-determined, and you will die." The figure said, as he brought out a microphone with no cord attached. Alto could clearly sense the intense aura coming off the figure as he cleared his lungs before breathing into the mic.

'A sonic attack? No...it must be a Devil's Fruit...and me without **Seastone**...' Alto sweatdropped, getting into blocking position.

"**Ram Strike**!" The person yelled, as Alto was suddenly struck from behind by a unseen force, nearly bending his spine inwards as he coughed up blood. Just as quickly, two other swift figures shot off and struck him in the face and stomach, chirping as they did so.

'Chirp?' Alto thought, feeling a bit more wounded as he rubbed his eyes to get his eyesight a bit more clearer. Unfortunately, his glasses were still dirty so it didn't really matter. All three rebounded and struck him again, their impact was like a haymaker punch from Prelude. Well, not exactly like Prelude's since her punch could impale him, but close enough.

Still, with the second round over, he looked at the figures more closely by squinting his eyes. "Huh?" The 3 were clearly giant horse-sized cricked in red yutatas with the word "Slay" painted on their backs. "What the heck is this?"

"'This', my dear captain, are **Behan Crickets** imported from **Elbaf**, one of the more docile creatures that I had obtained over the years, but why stop there? I have many, many others for you to see, as it is my prized collection." The masked figure said, still talking into the mic. "For although I may be a substitute for the real Red Dwarf captain who is currently on another island for vacation time, I will soon hold more power than any of the Revolutionaries and the World Government!"

"Shut up, moron..." Alto said slowly, his eyes watching the crickets calmly as he only registered only a faint buzz from what the man said. "You should know that now that I can see those things, I can kill them pretty quickly, right? When I served in Alabasta, I fought scorpions four times that size."

"Perhaps...**Earsplitter Melody**!" The person said into the mic, declaring a new form of attack on Alto. The crickets raised their hind legs behind them, and repeatedly rubbed them against their other legs to create a awful screeching sound, like a hundred claws scratching a chalkboard, or listening to rap music turned up at the max with hundreds of subwoofers blaring all at once.

Alto looked confused, barely registering the noise since his hearing was still on the flitz. However, the wooden floor was starting to crack beneath them, and the sound could be heard outside, causing many pirates and marines to claw out their ears and wailed from the intense headaches and internal bleeding inside the skull.

Even Requiem was feeling a bit dizzy as she was currently making a grave marker for her latest victim, his head shaking like a alarm clock and her eyes rolled up. To her, it was a new wavelength being introduced, which in turn would make her feel light-headed as she struggled to get her power under control.

"Whatever you're doing, it doesn't seem to be effective..." Alto grunted, beginning to walk towards the crickets and reeling in the strings to launch his own form of attack. "6 String C-Owwwwww!" He moaned out, as his left leg punctured through the now fractured floor. At the same time, his strings lashed out in all directions narrowly missing the man and the crickets. However, this in turn caused the floor to fracture severely as the support beams were severed underneath, then caved in entirely.

"Well, at least my leg's free." Alto said, looking up at the sky as he began to fall down the 16 stories of the factory. The crickets, being heavier, hit the ground first and splattered into mush, but apparently the strange man had prepared for this as a elephant-sized Praying Mantis jumped down from the top to catch him, landing safely on the 4th floor. "What the heck is up with this guy and bugs? I hate bugs!" With his vision slowly getting better, he caught a lucky snag from the bar rail that he cut earlier, curving it a bit with his momentum. Even then, he breathed a sign of relief as he swayed to the right so he could get his other had on the broken rail. "Okay...I definitely need to cut down on the root beer." He muttered, swinging over the rail and back on the solid metal surface.

He could hear the person chuckling now, even if it was faint, as numerous Praying Mantises began to come out of the cell doors one-by-one, freed by a hooded Red Dwarf Pirate controlling the switch. "Do you like my pets so far? I, **Antoine N. Sect**, am the greatest with a 100 million bounty on my head. And soon, I will have power far beyond the Admirals themselves. Now that I have this." He said, pointing out a window towards the metal tower in which lightning kept hitting.

"Whatever, mac. But at least face me like a captain, instead of sending these giant bugs at me." Alto said, twirling a finger to slice off the legs of a approaching mantis, then snipped two fingers to divide it's body vertically.

"Nuh-uh, I don't see that it's any of my business to give you such a feat. Even if you are known for killing a lot of 9 figure pirates." Antoine said, although the back of his head was sweating like crazy. "Attack!"

"We'll see...we'll see..." Alto snickered, even as Walking Sticks as big as camels, Shieldbugs the size of pigs and boa-constrictor sized centipedes began to appear all over the room in large numbers, ready to chew him up like a piece of beef jerky.

"Let the Fall of Mankind begin!"

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**1 Finger Cleave and Snatch**: One of Alto's favorite techniques, as it extends outwards to wrap around a specific target, such as a human neck, tightens around it like a noose and a firm yank removes it. Mostly used for execution purposes.

**Seastone**: Powerful rock, harder than diamond. Can negate the elements of Devil Fruits and turn Fruit users loopy and confused upon contact.

**Behan Crickets**: Known to drive even Giants mad with their chirping, they are numerous and are bilge-colored with yellow spots on their legs. The music they make cause victims to bleed out their ears and sometimes even deafen them for good.

**Ram Strike**: A high speed headbutt from a Behan Cricket as it jumps, capable of breaking bones.

**Elbaf:** Island of the giants and has been home to many pirates over the years.

**Earsplitter Melody**: High noise melody that can damage the eardrum and possibly kill a person if his hearing is good, can be heard for half a mile. The frequency is like a high pitch which disturbs magnetic fields as a side effect.


	9. Only One Weakness: Take out the Tower!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. And I can't help it if the screen is wide and the story looks short. Also, this chapter involves a very deadly drug, so if you get offended, please keep it to yourself.

Ch 9

'Let's access the situation again...I came here to pick up Prelude, only to run into a insane bug collector who instead of sticking them through the chest with a needle and placing them in a wooden box, chooses to sic them on civilians in a attempt to overthrow the World Government. And apparently he's some devil fruit user.' Alto thought, ducking to avoid a lighting-fast slash from the scythe-like arm of the large Mantis, which ended up embedding it 4 feet into the wall. "Note to self, avoid the scythe arms. 2 finger cross!" Using one finger on each hand, he formed a cross motion to slice the mantis apart.

"You'll have to do better than that! Behold, the **Argon Fleas** that I purchased from the Black Market! Sic them, bloodsuckers!" Antoine laughed wickedly as fleas the size of Dobermans bounded upwards with their sharp teeth, their bodies as light as air as they flew towards Alto with a craving for blood.

"Owch!" Alto yelled out, as one of the vermin managed to grab onto his arm and bit down with it's fangs. "GET OFF!" Wrapping strings around the husk of the creature, he yanked hard to slice it into steak portions, but the damage was done as multiple holes were torn in the skin.

"Man...where is Gladyr when I need him? **3 Finger Thrust**!" He said, bending 3 fingers on one hand and then 'pushed' them towards the fleas. The red strings shot out like bullets towards the fleas, impaling them through the chests despite their strong armored exoskeleton, then wrapped around them to form them into a ball-like shape. "And now, tetherball bash!" He roared, swinging the strings into the advancing army to plow down the fliers first, as well as cutting down the vicious ladybugs that began to nurse the fallen.

"No matter how many of my bugs you cut down, there is nearly a limitless supply all over the planet in all sizes and shapes. I even have gigantic moths and bees as well under my command, since I have obtained the power of the **Bug Bug** fruit. With it and my transmitter tower, there is no force in the Grand Line that can stop me from locating Pluton." Antoine said, as more and more large insects began to come out of the woodworks.

"Uh-huh...and why aren't any spiders with you?" Alto's query broke Antoine's happy train as his face turned red with outrage.

"SH-SHUT UP! MY POWERS DON'T WORK ON SPIDERS!" Antoine yelled, his face getting even redder. "Anyways, you won't get past my army anyways, so why don't you give up and be eaten alive!"

"Don't be too sure of that." Alto said, slicing the floor in back of him, then as he steadied himself by holding a railing, he sliced the front of the floor a foot away. Thus, carving it so it would plunge down to the 4th floor below, squashing a rhino-length caterpillar to explode into purple goo. Alto winced, his legs hurting from the aftershock and trembling from the crash. Most likely he assumed that he could keep on falling, but the floor seemed to be stable enough to move on, as he leapt off to approach the incoming hordes of man-eating bugs.

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At the same time, Prelude had her own troubles due to the heavy metal plates that the pirates were wearing, as she was weaving through boxes and barrels strafing to get in close. She could hear the muffled cries of the professor through the burlap sack on his head, and knew that because of the chains her saw wheel would be ineffective in cutting the noose that the executioner was frantically putting around the neck.

Even so, she was currently on her adrenaline time making the situation just as bad as she managed to shoot two flares into a pirate's face, igniting the skin upon contact and permanently blinding him. A axe flew past her head, narrowly shaving a hair or two, which she responded with rapid blasts of her flare guns. 'This isn't good...I'm running low on flares. I guess I'll have to make do with one of their weapons.' She thought, snatching the axe and pulling it out of a wooden box.

"Ai-ai-yai-yai-yai!" She yelled a fierce battlecry as she impaled another wooden box with it, lifting it up over her head despite it's heaviness and then threw it into the crowd of pirates. After all, despite her being in a prison cell, she still worked out numerous extra-long navy exercises to keep herself in top condition. It was said that she was capable of lifting oil barrels from ship to ship without faltering, as her determination drove her to be strong.

"Don't hit it, it's---" A panicked pirate tried to warn out, aware of it's contents, but it was too late as a brawny brown-bearded pirate destroyed the crate with a powerful weighted chain snap. A thick fog of white powder quickly covered the area in which the pirates breathed in, their pupils shrunk and their nasty mood was replaced by a sense of euphoria.

'What the? They look like they had lost their minds...is this some new drug that they're smuggling?' Prelude thought, holding her breath and covering her nose with her fingers.

"Ohh...butterflies..." One of them said, dizzily chasing a figment of his imagination in circles, awhile others were singing almost drunkenly and dancing without clothes in some cases. Some screamed that the sky was falling inwards; others claimed that their skin was melting as paranoia and optical illusions filled their minds. On the side of the box, the word "Co-Co-Cane" was printed.

'Now's my chance.' Prelude thought, continuing to cover her mouth and nose, and narrowing eyes to protect them from the mist as she moved in like the agile sniper that she trained night and day to become. Kicking aside the absent-minded pirates with her steel-rimmed boots, she grabbed another axe and threw it towards the noose. The executioner was at the moment pretending he was a a slug crawling on the ground when the rope split, dropping the professor down upon him with a heavy slam, enough to break the executioner's spine and knocked him out cold.

'Professor Mindrake!' Prelude thought, rushing to the tree awhile blasting away at any of the drug victims with her free hand. The mist was clearing, but it may take a few hours before the other pirates awaken from their inflected 'happiness' drug. Upon arrival, she quickly began to untie the ropes with one hand using the knowledge of knots when studying ship-repairs courses in the academy, unbinding the man.

"Thank you...whoever you are..." The professor coughed, moving his arms a bit to get the blood flowing again after being bound for several days.

"Here, let me get the hood off. It probably protected you from the drug's airborne effects." Prelude said, no longer sensing the toxic aroma of the co-co-cane around, as she firmly grasped the hood off to see a quite handsome face. Blond, short hair, a dimple on one cheek, sparking blue eyes and a pointed chin, with crystal glasses perched on his nose was basically the description that Prelude could give, for it was said that he was one of the dreamiest hunks in the **Navy Intel Corps**.

"Thank you...umm..." Mindrake said, coughing a bit more as he struggled to recall the name. Unlike most of the navy members, he was diagnosed with the whooping cough at the age of 12, in which he had only a few years to live. Despite that, he managed to survive the painful cough every day of his life for 9 more years awhile using every cent he made to developing a cure for the deadly disease. Of course, he also had a poor memory for names as he lived in isolation outside of meeting with Vegapunk.

"Prelude." She said, smiling happily towards him as she offered a hand for him to get up.

"Derrick Mindrake. I can assume you've come to rescue me on behalf of the navy?" He inquired, taking the hand and lifted his prone body off the ground. He looked around, seeing the masses of confused, dazed pirates who were currently high. "And what happened to them?"

"Something like that. And I suppose they were too stupid to use their own products. Anyways, I'll get some crew members to loan you a rowboat and escort you to the ship for transport." Prelude said, only to realize Derrick was clasping her hand a bit tighter.

"No. The bastard who built that transmission tower had been posing as me for a while now and took my inventions for his own personal gain. I'll only leave when that tower is destroyed for good, as it will only bring about the end of the world with that guy's power." He said darkly, his blue eyes flaming with inner hatred.

"Fine, fine. But at least let me locate some of the guys to act as 'bodyguards' so you can stand by the shore and watch the tower fall. I'll take down the tower pretty quickly." Prelude said, nearly crushing Derrick's hand in irritation as he let out a coughing yelp of pain. She then proceeded calling out the names of various crewmen whom she knew would survive, unaware of the 4 foot tall Pillbugs with hedge-trimmer jaws watching close by.

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**Argon Fleas**: Savage large fleas from Argon Island, have red antenna and a brown shell. Known to swarm in large groups to drain humans and livestock of blood.

**3 Finger Thrust**: Alto's current long-range attack, can extend to a maximum of 10 feet, unlike his wire slashes that barely cover 4 feet. Can pierce through rock as well as iron armor, but not steel.

**Bug Bug fruit**: Paramercia type fruit. Can grant user to talk to and command insects against their will. However, it only works with a amplifying device to keep the voice in a way that the insects can understand. Also, has no effect on spiders or non-insects as well as underwater insects.


	10. Do you feel lucky, punk? Do ya? BLAMMM!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. And will we ever know if Luffy's new dubbed attacks sound better? Seriously, they better put in bazooka instead of double barrel when Wiper comes with that cannon of his.

Ch 10

SNIZT! Metal wires crossed with scythe arm, as sparks flew through the air, slicing and tearing towards the others throats as Alto fought against five mantises. He was clearly getting closer and closer to Antoine, although the bugs were now tearing holes in the floor to disorient or attack his feet. His 3 Finger Thrust, however, poked smaller holes to impale and cut apart those who would cheaply attack him from below.

"You'll have to do better than that, my dear captain. From all over the world, I had captured insects of the highest caliber for my collection, taking in hundreds of each species. Because of this, I know that my bounty will grow by 700 percent when I overthrow the World Government!" Antoine laughed, rallying the bug armies to push forward, renewing their spirit and morale.

"Who the hell do you think you are, you piece of trash! **Double Hand Spiral**!" Several walking sticks and mantises were struck down as a wireframe lance drilled through them, turning their organs into a bloody pulp as it spun. "The World Government will never fall to you! Not even if you have the control of every bug on the planet and Pluton!"

"Heh, so you can do other things than slash stuff with your strings. If you truly want to face my full power as a substitute captain of the seas, then come down to the center ring if you dare! MUAHAHAHAHA!" Antoine said, bursting into manicial laughter as he jumped onto a passing ladybug twice his size and ordered it to hover down to the ground surface at the 1st floor of the building.

"From the highest point of the building to the lowest floor. Man, I hate this guy for being a diabolical fruitcake." Alto muttered, as blood dripped a bit from his wounds. "But first I have to deal with my injuries." Leaning one arm in, he tore off one of his sleeves with his own teeth, then used it as a temporary cast to cut off the bleeding with both hands. "There we go...now for some slicing and dicing!" He yelled, throwing his hands wide in back of him and then threw them forward. "**Double Hand Rake**!"

The insects in front of him were cut horizontally, despite their hard skin and muscle tissue, but some like the Cockroaches maintained despite losing body parts and charged in, only for Alto to throw them over the edge. He still got a few cuts though doing it, but they didn't draw blood. Bounding over the dead bodies, he continued to dodge oncoming rams from different kinds of flying and jumping insects, but took time to split apart those with poison abilities and bone-ripping jaws and appendages.

"Die already, geez!" He said, bashing a massive earthworm with a circular jaw repeatedly as he went down a set of stairs to the next floor, causing it to combust into purple goo upon him. Getting annoyed, he slowly wiped his face of the gunk and split the stairs apart as soon as he got to the floor, sending many land crawlers to their deaths.

To make a long story short, he had rinsed and repeated the process of exterminating bugs and going down the floors, using all sorts of weird techniques that would be shown in later chapters. That is, until he managed to reach the first floor with a large amount of demonic bugs chasing him with a hunger for blood. At this time, he had taken a few more cuts, his left arm was worn out and he felt rather tired and thirsty. "Had enough yet, scum?" He asked, twirling around on one foot to slash the ladder, tearing apart the grounded insects coming behind him.

"Hardly. This is the best time to unleash the strongest of my insects upon you! Look down." Antoine said, snickering through his mask.

Alto did so, realizing that the dirty floor was now blanketed with small black dots that were crawling all over. And that he had stepped on a few, which in turn caused a eeric hissing around him. Antoine's legs were currently being coated with the small bugs, spiraling around his pants and clinging to the hairs on the skin.

"Want to know WHY out of the Red Dwarf pirates that I am the only one who is normal sized?" He said, sneering as the bugs continued to climb all over him.

"Not really, no. In fact, I want you to stay in that position for a moment." Alto answered truthfully, reeling some of his bug-stained strings for a direct long ranged slash to decapitate the jerk in one hit. It didn't matter if they were visible or not, there was no way that punk could move well with his legs draped around a mound of bugs.

"It's because I never got anywhere in life thanks to my condition. Everywhere I went for a job interview, I got turned down because I didn't look important or smart enough. Even the navy turned me away because I didn't look healthy enough even to be a scientist. However, the Red Dwarf leader chose me because I wanted revenge on those who place glass ceilings over the minorities and those with racial ethnic views. For unlike people, my** Eciton Island Army Ants** see everyone as a equal, able to share the food and work together. And soon you'll be the first to fall against the power of the insect kingdom!" Antoine laughed, as his body began to morph with the ants covering him, reshaping his body into different sections.

His waist narrowed to become a thorax, his chest was encased in a thick mesosoma exoskeleton that would withstand a cannon shell and his hips and thighs shifted into a heavy gaster. A second set of legs formed from the numerous ants to keep Antoine from falling over, as the exoskeleton increased density and flexibility for him. His hands turned into large hooked claws which could take on Alto's strings with ease, and his covered head had been swallowed up and reformed into a ant's as well, leaving only the fedora hat poked through by the antenna, as the bone-crushing mandibles dripped corrosive acid onto the floor. "See this, captain? THIS is the true power of the insect kingdom! With numerous species of ants under my command, and hundreds of billions of bus worldwide, I will be invincible!"

"Why are you saying all this! I keep telling you that I'm not interested! So shut up!" Alto shouted back, charging right at Antoine and slipping a bit since some of the ants were still on the floor. "Twin Finger Scissors!"

The strings were caught before they could divide the rambling madman in two, then were yanked so hard that Alto flew towards Antione head-first. "Had you forgotten that ants can carry ten times their body weight? Currently I can as well, making me capable of moving around a ton if needed. You, on the other hand, barely weigh anything to me! **Anthill Punch**!" Enlarging his fist to epic size, he let Alto have it which basically sent him crashing into a nearby wall and cratering it a few inches.

"Man...that hurts. Guess I have to do this short-range for now." Alto said, not actually looking healthy but still getting up. Dusting off his shirt, he noticed the large amounts of bugs were just standing around. "Oy, what's up with the audience?"

The antennas bounced up and down, showing a sign of glee. "Please, my insects know better than to interfere with my fight. Once I kill you, I'll throw your carcass towards them to be devoured and turned into food for their young."

"Okay...whatever. It's creepy but you're just weird." Alto said, as he twirled the wires around his hands to create wireframe boxing gloves. "**Double Hand Gloves**."

"I see now...only when you state that both hands are used it's when you create a object with them." Antoine's multiple eyes blinked, as his arms lengthened as more ants were applied. The hands reformed into odd-looking pistols made of ants. "However, that would only work if you maintain their form and not tighten them, otherwise your hands would be sliced up instead. So why not be a good navy man and just die for me? **Bullet Ant Barrage**!" With that, he launched a full-out scale of ants purposely called "Bullet Ants" towards Alto, each armed with a small stinger filled with non-lethal poison.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Geez, that stings! Ow!" Alto said painfully, charging head-on against the ant's ruthless stings. He didn't care that the welts would keep hurting or that they might clung to him and bite his skin, all he wanted was to kick the jerk's butt. "Slicing Flurry!" He said, now a foot away from his opponent as he unleashed one jab after another into the chest, making large cuts to tear up the ants formed the armor. The impact also caused Antoine to heave, bleeching saliva on Alto's head which caused the captain to pause in disgust. That pause was all he needed as the gaster turned around to hit him with the force of a minivan going 20 mph.

He skidded on his butt several feet, got up and closed in again, even as Antoine shifted the guns back into claws which shot towards him by telescoping. As a captain of the navy, he knew that it would be bad if a pirate knocked him out here and now. He had a family to back to, and a dream that he planned on achieving. There was no way in heck this punk was going to take him down without a fight. "**Double Hand Max-Glove**...!" Clenching his hands together without forcing them too close (doing so could damage the palms), he arced his arms under his shoulder as he ran straight at Antoine for another head-on attack, swerving out of the way of the rapid claw punches that Antoine was throwing, ripping the area around them apart.

"**INFLATION**!" He roared as he came in close, swinging both arms in to deliver a powerful punch. Only it wasn't a normal wireframe glove anymore, but a colossal 6 foot wireframe fist made out of the numerous metal strings which expanded upon impact with Antoine's chest.

"Uffffffffgggggghhhhhhhhh!" Antoine yelled out, as parts of his ant armor cracked under pressure. Half of his the ant face split, tearing the gas mask he was wearing. Alto looked on in shock as the man crashed through the wall, rebounding by sacrificing his extra two legs to stand up straight. "Heahaheahea! This is great! This is how I should feel all the time!" Antoine laughed, exposing his true face to Alto. His lips were swollen, he had 2 boils on his forehead as well as white warts on his nose and his eyes were bright yellow, not even close to a human's pupil. His teeth were crooked on one side, yellow and his gums were a raw red color. His nose was bent and currently bleeding, as well as his exposed chest which was cut from the powerful attack.

"This is the face I look at every day of my life, captain Alto! But soon I'll make your face so mangled that not even your next-of-kin would recognize you! And soon there will be no humans to make fun of me ever again!" Ants from all over the floor reclimbed on Antoine to regenerate the armor and repaired the broken pieces, as he held out both hands and opened them. "**Ant Swarm Weaver**!" He called out, as two jet blast streams of ants shot from his palms arcing out to the left and right of Alto, in which the front parts shifted into large ant mandibles. "Like the deadly weaver ants, I will pull your arms out of your sockets and then cut you in half! This is the end!"

"I don't even know what the end means! **8 Finger Baton**!" Alto yelled out, retracting the strings and spun 4 on each hand, as the two opposing forces prepared to clash for the final time.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"It's good that I ran into you guys. How are the others faring?" Prelude said, addressing 4 Navy Seamen with large sniper rifles hung over their backs.

"Well...we managed to free a good chunk of the civilian population. They claim that the pirates have been feeding the elderly and the young to large insects of some kind. I don't know what kind of bug can do that." The tall, skinny one with a buzzcut said, known as Rick. He was the inflitration and trap tester.

"Those of the pirates that survived have managed to escape by long canoes can can hold up to 8 at a time. We can assume that is how they came here to begin with. I had used my sniper scope, but the main ship is not around." A man with wavy green hair and a dimple on his chin said coldly, his stature was so thin that one can see his ribs. He was Jameson, the tracker and pointman.

"Umm...the treasury of the village has been broken into, and we had piled all the dead bodies up. I set them on fire just as the handbook said since we cannot afford to let any possums slip past." Moe, the slightly chubby but well-built one said. His job was to keep track of ammunition and cannon trajectory, as well as repairing the sniper rifles.

"We will escort this person to the boat as you command, my liege. But still, we missed you SO MUCH!" Jacob, the dark-skinned platoon leader said, crying as he hugged Prelude with his muscular arms tattoo emblemed with the faces of dozens of pirates that he shot down over the past year.

"Here, here. I was only going to be gone for a week, but those pirates basically locked me in a cell and forced me to eat the mold on the walls and rats that crawled in. Heck, I once ate one of the insects since they're high in protein, although it caused the rest to stay far, far away from me." Prelude said, patting her protege on the back as she turned to face the tower. "Men, what I plan to do is exterminate all lifeforms surrounding the tower in under a half hour. There may be more pirates who may interfere, but thanks to the ammo boxes of extra flares, I should take out a small army of them. Once I give the signal, commence "Operation: Toppel" to take out the tower since my flares and saw wheels would be ineffective against the transmitter tower's reinforced steel plating. Is that clear to you all?"

"Yes, sir! I mean, madam! I mean...you know what we mean, Squad Leader Prelude!" All four said in sync, sweating bullets as they realized their mistake and stumbled to get it right.

"Good, good. Dismissed, and make sure that the Professor gets a comfortable room, preferably in Alto's office for the time being." She turned around, only to see that the four had yanked Derrick off his feet and ran like crazy to the nearest lifeboat. "Okay...that makes my job a little easier..." She said, sweatdropping at their odd antics.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that, she ran down the stone streets bypassing the civilains who were lazily coming out of their houses and homes, finally able to see the clouds shining rays of sunlight down on the island. However, she also heard the screaming of adults being mauled behind her in which she turned her head to one side. 12 Pillbugs, big as leopards, were giving chase with their multiple legs speeding them up, their feelers sensing her footsteps.

"What the heck? Is every insect on this island a giant?" Prelude yelled, now frightened out of her mind as she sped up faster. Not that she had a fear of bugs, but because of the venomous smell that they were emitting. To her, pillbugs were a nuisance where she once lived, as one can just roll them up and flick them, but the smell on the fingers would take days to clean up.

Getting out a flare and loading it into her customized revolver, she spun around a full 360, auto-targeting the lead pillbug with one eye closed to measure distance and accuarcy. "**Flaring Shot Burst**!" She called out, as the revolver spun and fired off the flare at twice the speed needed. The pillbug was thrown back upon impact, but because of it's hardened exoskeleton, the shot barely melted a foot of it's armored shell. Of course, since the skin was damaged and he was flipped over, the other pillbugs saw this opportunity to dogpile their comrade and eat it awhile it was on it's back to get at the exposed flesh.

'Okay...that should buy me a moment or two. Still...my flares won't work against those creatures, and I only have 4 more saw wheels in my inventory.' Prelude thought, looking at her weapon's pouch by her left thigh. The saw wheels were basically circular sawblades shaped like chakrams for throwing, but they were only made out of iron substance. However, their unique talent was when the sun was out in which the waxed surface would reflect the light and blind those in her path, but it wouldn't work with the cloud cover overhead which was still striking the tower with lightning.

Skidding into a alleyway, she quickly broke a window and jumped inside a apartment building. She could already hear the pillbugs regrouping and searching for her, their thirst for human blood undenied. Moving a couch on it's side to bar the window, she blasted a round to ignite it on fire, then ran out the door into a long hallway of doors. She made sure to close the door behind her as well, as she knew the Pillbugs were coming after her. 'Staircase, staircase...ah, here it is.' Finding a spiraling staircase, she walked upwards, hearing the sound of pillbugs being burned as others climbed over them to cut down the door with their pincers.

In a few minutes, she managed to reach the rooftop, breathing heavily due to the smoke filling up the corridors down below. She doubted the smoke would effect the pillbugs though since they were used to not breathing like humans. They were scrambling along the staircase downstairs, their numbers growing by the minute and their combined stink had increased a hundredfold.

"I freaking hate these things!" Prelude huffled, running across the edge of the roof as she began to plan ahead. The nearest rooftop was only 10 feet from the edge, but she knew that part of the gutter rigging could be used as a spring board if she applied enough weight on it and leapt hard. Behind her, the door was beginning to give away as numerous small termites joined their allies to weaken the wooden ceiling and doorway.

'Almost there...time to speed it up! If I time it just right, I'll clear myself to the next roof and go towards the center of town.' Prelude thought, quickening each step as she neared the end of the roof towards the nearest apartment, unaware of the cracks spreading beneath her feet.

She shot a few more times, taking out those who managed to penerate the surface by burning the small head underneath the armor, causing them to curl up as they were set on fire. Her flare bursts were rather accurate as she ran, avoiding broken tiles that the Pillbugs were cutting through as she managed to approach the gutter at top speed. But as soon as she jumped upon the gutter, the screws were already half-chewed by rust and decay, causing her and the gutter to tip over ever so slightly. Her mouth hung open and her eyes displayed fear, as every muscle in her body became rigid and tense, unable to move if she tried.

As she began to plummet 5 stories below towards a street full of vicious, man-eating pillbugs (the gutter impaled a few as it came down first), she could almost see the face of her beloved in the sky, a dark-haired man with white stripes, with his bleeding empty eyes covered over by a blindfold. "Nocturne...where are you?" She whispered, tears gently flying upwards by the rising air as gray darkness consumed her entirely...

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**Double Hand Spiral**: Wireframe technique that can get tangled, requires all 10 wires as it turns into a lance. Short range weapon.

**Double Hand Rake**: By crossing both hands in front with thrusting the wires, it either pushes opponents to the side or cuts them up. Not a wireframe attack.

**Eciton Island Army Ants**: Extremely vicious, but work together to take down large foes. They can even combine to create larger ants or merge with a human to increase their fighting ability.

**Anthill Punch**: Made of a few hundred Army Ants, getting hit would be the same as a hit-and-run by a car. Also, because it can expand, it is hard to avoid and can sometimes engulf a victim if grabbed. If that happens, the ants would no doubt spread on the person's body and begin to bite down hard on the flesh until the person is nothing but bones.

**Double Hand Gloves**: Alto's explosive technique, uses boxing tactics to fight. Each hit also can cut the opponent on impact, but is delicate as it can easily backfire and destroy the hands.

**Double Hand Max-Glove Inflation**: By adding more strings into the attack by putting both hands together, the gloves merge to become one large 3-D wireframe boxing glove which expands outwards to 10 feet, dealing heavy damage and cuts the opponent severely depending on armor. However, it cannot be used again, due to the strings getting tangled.

**Ant Swarm Weaver**: A three-pronged attack made of hundreds of ants, as it is capable of ripping limbs and tearing the body to shreds.

**8 Finger Baton**: The strongest defensive move in Alto's arsenal, as two of the strings are tangled. By spinning the wires, he creates two protective domes around him, but the timing must be perfect. However, if a small object got through between revolutions and was dangerous, Alto would be caught off guard as a result. Sneak attacks from behind also is a problem for this technique.

**Flaring Shot Burst**: Single shot, but twice as dangerous if no other flares are loaded. Targets weak spots in armor that she could identity given time to aim and adjust to terrain. Can also be used to signal for help.


	11. Guns and Swords: Destined to Kill

Drode: It seems like most of you aren't even looking at the other chapters. Man, I pity you for missing out on so much raw violence. And to think the guy is doing this to please you.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, Monster Luffy would definitely grow more hair on his head to hide his bulging biceps. I feel fat just looking at him.

Ch 11  
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_FLASHBACK_

_6 years ago..._

_"Cha!" **Shinai** hit shinai, as two kendo masters fought on a unparallel floor made of bamboo, supported only by a single oak trunk 30 feet above the ground. With that in mind, falling backwards would end up in tilting the floor and sending both competitors falling._

_Still, what seemed to be normal swift strikes was less than obvious to the average nobody, but to them, it was a fast paced battle of wits and patience. The first to land a hit would be the winner, yet neither would back down. Even with their faces covered by the head guards, they could see each others eyes and focus entirely on their next move._

_Feint, block, underhand sweep, dodge, overhead smash, horizontal sweep, spinning lance cross, both of them gracefully danced with their own rhythm. If their opponent moved upfront, they moved in as well, crossing their shinai blades in order to shove hard then moved back again once they determined that the strength level was equal. Even charging with a fierce thrust proved futile, as one could simply turn to the side and slap the shinai downwards, in which the opponent would have time to strike._

_Arcing the body even with the heavy armor on, the downward slash was blocked, as the two wooden swords clashed with the kendo masters fighting with their minds set only on defeating the other. The floor trembled beneath the blows exchanged, damp with sweat and saliva._

_This sort of battle would have lasted a while, maybe 2 more hours at the most, until the bell rang. One of the kendo fighters blinked, turning to face the clock, and the 2nd fighter took the chance to rush in._

_"That's quite enough, you know...**Dark Wave**!" The person said, slightly disinterested as he turned his head slightly. His opponent was defeated in an instant as a pitch black arc of light was shot from the face mask, burning his arms severely and sent him over the edge. Only to land amongst the dozens of feathered pillows placed along the ground, his spirit broken and his soul in tatters._

_"If you take advantage of a swordsman's weakness, then you are lower than scum." The person said, taking off his kendo mask with his gloves to reveal a rather handsome man. Long, slicked-back hair with gray markings, a smooth chin and nose, pierced silver earrings on both ears, and a blood red bandanna around his eyes. On his forehead were several odd markings with a black painted eye in the center. He was only 13 years old, but he held a adult air around him shrouded in mystery._

_Without a care for his own safety, he walked off the edge of the upraised floor without taking the ladder that he used to get up in the first place. He landed perfectly on both feet, but the impact caused the Navy ship that he was taking to quake sharply, making many fall with seasickness._

_"That was great!" Without warning, he was glomped to the ground by a 14 year old **Prelude** who was currently still filling out in most assets, her hair trimmed back up to her shoulders. The tackle caused him to lose his armor, as both he and Prelude were both wearing seamen uniforms as they were merely grunts in the Navy. "You totally nailed that guy!"_

_"How...how long have you been here? I told you that you shouldn't watch my fights!" The guy said, trying to get up as he scrambled for his shinai. The wooden blade was lifted up the ground, carefully examined by a wizened old man with a white top knot on his head and a fluffy white beard that went down to his stomach. His eyes were unreadable, covered over by his burly eyebrows._

_"Boy. Haven't I already told you not to use the **Ebon Eye** on your fellow seamen? Granted it was dishonorable, but now I have to send him to the Medic Wards." The old man, known as **Raizen of the Golden Blade**, scorned, really ticked off at his apprentice. "As the next one to succeed the title of Nocturne, one must focus more on the rights of his opponent and counter it without disabling."_

_"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it a lot, old timer. But the Ebon Eye needed to be discharged anyways otherwise I would get nightmares for a week." '**Nocturne'** said, walking past his tutor even Prelude clunging to his leg in a fit of admiration._

_"Hmmph...he certainly takes after his forefathers." Raizen muttered, as he tossed the shinai into the sea below. Bending down, he lifted the burnt body as if it was as light as a feather and carried the victim towards the Medic Room._

_15 minutes after going in the showers..._

_"You know, the men's showers weren't co-ed." 'Nocturne' said bluntly, currently wearing a towel and nothing else. His chest was tightened, 6 pack and all, and his arms and legs were flexible but muscular, perhaps as good as Zoro's._

_"Ah...don't be like that, snookums...if I so wanted, I could change the rules in a millisecond. Besides, the ship guard for this room is out for a drink, so it doesn't really matter." Younger Prelude grinned, sitting on the wooden bench enjoying a fruit smoothie in a striped two-piece bikini. Her other hand was modifying a long barreled flare rifle with secondary flash grenades._

_"I see you are still using that toy of yours instead of your combat skills." 'Nocturne' said quietly, looking at the weapon. He was suddenly stripped of his towel which was thrown outside, making him blush furiously in embarrassment._

_"Call it a toy again and I'll fire a round through your skull." Y. Prelude growled, promising a slow and painful death to him with vicious eyes that were that of a killer's._

_"Understood...but seriously, a girl like you has to do more than just use weapons. Hand-to-hand also should work when you run out of your precious rescue flares. Unlike me who barely has to raise a finger to snuff out pirates." 'Nocturne' said, locating and breaking into a nearby locker to claim a towel for himself._

_"Yeah, yeah. Big history and all. I understand..." Y. Prelude was interrupted as 'Nocturne' slammed his fist into the locker, causing it to be dented inward several feet._

_"You know nothing of the Wraith lineage." 'Nocturne' said coldly as a orange fell into his open palm. "Tell me, is the world flat or round? This question has always been the bane of scientists since the World Government has been established."_

_"Of course it's round! Otherwise we wouldn't have magnetic poles and we would be stuck on our backs unable to stand up. We even proved the moon revolves around us." Prelude answered, really afraid of the tone Nocturne was expressing. _

_"Then why is One Piece **Raftel** only located in the WEST BLUE? Even if one travels from east to west, why is that they cannot reach the other side? The answer is simple." Nocturne smirked, getting out a small knife that he obtained from the kitchen._

_"And that is?" Prelude asked, confused a little._

_"The **Kusanagi Tsurugi**, also known as Ame Murakumo Tsurugi. Back before the Ancient Weapons were made, this legendary sword was forged from a Wraith who had been granted wisdom from the Devil in exchange for his and his ancestor's eyes from the 2nd generation to the next all the way up to the present. The user of the sword can be invincible and powerful enough to wipe out entire civilizations. However, despite the fact that the sword could recover the Wraith's eyes, he was tormented with endless nightmares in his sleep about wars, violence and the future of our world." Nocturne said calmly, recalling the stories of the old world._

_"But what does that have to do with the world being flat?" Prelude asked, tilting her head a bit more as she was doubting the existence of such a sword. After all, if it was so great, then why hadn't she heard of it from her family of weapon collectors?_

_"I'm getting to that, will you be patient?" 'Nocturne' grumbled, as he continued on. "It was 5 years after he forged the sword that he had given birth to a son. But in his eyes, one wasn't enough, as he soon messed with a lot of women to get a large quantity of children for himself, all of them born with the Ebon Eye and hollow bleeding eye sockets. From that generation, he selected the strongest of them to wield the sword, and in doing so, the regeneration the sword gave him faded, turning him into dust. The sons and daughters were soon found and drafted into the World Government's Navy, most of them working as blacksmiths and the rest as navy specialists. Only the strongest of the family was left behind, as the siblings married themselves and had children that married other sibling's children which carried on to the present day. But when the day came for the Ancient Weapons, a massive war broke out that destroyed several islands. The Wraiths were scattered across the world by this time, but the strongest of them stayed on an island overlooking the fight ageless due to the regeneration powers. To be blunt, he was bored, and since his former father never really used the stupid sword, he gave it a try and swung down in a full arc. That...was how the Grand Divide was formed and why no one has ever made a round the world trip to this day, even by hot air balloon."_

_"The **Grand Divide**? I haven't heard of such a place." Prelude stated, looking puzzled._

_"Ahem! Stop it with the interruptions." 'Nocturne' snapped, then continued to speak. "Think of this orange as the world. Basically, it can be cut into 16 seperate portions with the right knife and precison. The Kusanagi is similar to this knife, as it's power was nearly limitless. Density, length, weight, piercing, cutting, as well as control over elements, all were perfectly aligned and amplified, embalmed with the Devil's Power. When the slash struck the surface, it didn't just cut the water and take out both of the Legendary Weapons (causing them to be sent flying), it also destroyed 1/16 of the planet." He demonstrated this by cutting a small chunk of the orange out but missing the north and south areas of it. "Despite this, the water did not flow in the now exposed molten core, nor did the fish or ships. However, it did mess with the magnetic forces in this world, making normal compasses to spiral out of control. When the World Government came across the destroyed island where the sword had cut, all that was left of the master was bones and over 50 swords of various shapes and sizes. With them was a note which read to those with the Ebon Eye:_

_Darkness claimed the soul and caused chaos to unravel,  
Kusanagi tamed the darkness but left a hole in the heart,  
Broken down the Kusanagi it has scattered them to the winds,  
Reforge you will not, recreate you will not, only protect and serve,  
Only when Dreams reawaken will all swords be found and reforged,  
As darkness once again runs wild to destroy all that remains..._

_My ancestors secretly hid the swords away in ragged sheaths, selling them to vendors and gypsies who were paid well to keep the swords out of human hands. History was then rewritten as the paper was sent to the elder Wraiths for safe keeping. Although most Wraiths continue to marry each other to stay pure, blacksmithing and assassination has always been in our veins."_

_"So why tell me all this if it was a secret?" Younger Prelude asked, certain now that he was finished. _

_"Because like you, I have a dream instead of a nightmare. The other Wraiths are too busy with the dull, boring lifes but I intend to recombine the **Supreme Grade** Swords and the other lesser Grade Swords back into Kusanagi. Then, I'll use their power to refill the gap that was destroyed several millenia ago." 'Nocturne' said darkly, chin rested on his palms._

_"That sounds good to me. After all, all I dream about is one day coming across the Emerald Ruins as it's said that one can create a weapon with the intensity of a starburst. As long as I can take the pirates out without killing them, I can be a strong marine just like my mom was when she joined the Navy." Younger Prelude said, looking at her reflection in the polished barrel._

_"Heh. Our dreams may co-exist in some ways, as neither of us want to get in each other's way. To me, the Navy is just another step to collecting every sword and combining them back into one. You take long range and I'll take short range, that way our paths will always stay together." 'Nocturne' said, getting into his uniform and brushing his hair._

_"I'd like that a lot." Prelude said, gazing at the ceiling with a slight grin on her face._

_End Flashback..._

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"Hrrrrr...mmmmph...huh?" Prelude awoke on her back, her eyes wide open as the flood of memories rushed back in. She was on the dirt covered road, surrounded by the corpses of dozens of Pillbugs. "AAHHHH!" She screamed, backing away with her feet only to bump into a pair of fine, waxed legs. "Huh?" Confused, she looked up to see her slightly panting comrade Requiem who looked like she was running low on stamina. That was the price of the Magnet Magnet fruit, as she had still was unable to focus with that new wavelength on her mind.

Spears made of iron fillings skewered multiple worms bursting from the surface, but that in turn just split them in two, each with a separate mouth and 'brain'. Others just got flatted as the spears shifted to circular weights in mid-air. But all this was taking it's toll on Requiem as she drooled uncontrollably, losing her mind bit by bit.

"Acccccck! Requiem, get control of yourself! Your drool is pouring on my hair!" Prelude cursed, tackling Requiem and lifting her over her shoulder for the time being. "Seriously, thanks for using that **Iron Cocoon** to break my fall."

"..." Requiem just continued to drool, leaving a path of thick saliva on the ground that the Pillbugs licked up greedily.

Stepping over the bodies of pirates and marines alike, she couldn't help but feel sad for the men and women that lost their lives today. Even if they were on opposing sides, their blood was still red and their minds were determined to reach their goals in life. But she had the support of her captain, a dreamer himself, who wanted nothing more than to lay back and drink soda.

"**Rapid Shine Blaze**!" Loading 6 flares into her custom revolver, she fired them off in a circular motion behind her, each set at a set angle. In 15 seconds as soon as she was close enough to the tower, the flares intertwined on a single point and exploded into a massive dome of light and flames, engulfing the crowds of man-eating bugs in the explosion.

'Okay, that will take about 2 minutes worth of distraction. Time to call in the heavy artillery!' Loading a red flare into the revolver, she shot upwards wih her eyes closed. "**SOS Shot**!" FWWWWWWOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHH! A horizonal column of red smoke spewed out of the flare after going up 20 feet, marking the tower's location and making it easier to target by sea. 'I sure hope this works...' Prelude thought, now loading up 6 flares again as the hordes began to advance again. 'Hurry, Alto!'

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**Shinai**: Wooden bamboo sword, used for practice.

**Dark Wave**: One of Nocturne's attacks, sends the person a optical illusion that becomes real if he believes in it. Mostly made of one's worst fear come to life, like snakes or flames. Cannot be used twice in one week's time. Despite it's appearance, it is a functional eyeball that moves.

**Prelude (title):** Given to the brightest marksman or woman in the Shinoa Navy Academy, one of the most esteemed military camps in the North Blue. Given the duty to "protect those with a glowing defense of volleys".

**Nocturne**: Assassin and first mate. Is of the Wraith linage dating back before the World Government was developed. Collects swords of Grade-type and can use limited blacksmith skills to forge them together. 18 years old. Believes that darkness can be used to save the world by any means needed.

**Ebon Eye**: The only way a Wraith can see since his eyes were dead and bleeding at birth. Can emit Dark Wave. It can also be used to see impurities in a sword as well as weak spots in another's swordmanship after some period fighting them. It's said that those eyes can even see the faint ethereal mist of spirits and souls, giving them the title of Wraith. If the Eye doesn't use Dark Wave within a week, the host is subject to being bedridden for a month forced to live out 'endless' nightmares in his mind.

**Raizen**: Navy instructor. Teaches several different forms of kenjutsu to Navy students, but once was known for wielding a golden sword that could cut through a person's spine without cutting the skin or clothing. 45 years old.

**Raftel**: "One Piece", where a normal pirate can become the mighty Pirate King.

**Kusanagi:** Based on a real sword, said to be of destructive force that can topple the government. Strangely enough, no one has really seen it save for monks.

**Great Divide**: On the opposite side of the Red Line, only a few miles wide. Makes certain no one can access Raftel from the east.

**Supreme Grade Swords**: One of which Mihawk uses. Are said to be very deadly.

**Iron Cocoon**: Wraps a person up and moves it around with Magnetic powers. Then breaks it down and is sent back to the user.

**Rapid Shine Blaze**: Wide-area explosion which both blinds first, then heavily burns the opponent.

**SOS Shot**: Prelude's useful flare can also be used to mark targets for the ship cannons to accurately fire upon, as they could easily wipe out the town.


	12. Do or Die: Alto's Legendary Tactics!

Drode: Still only one review...man, I feel sorry for that loser of an author. As a muse, it is my duty to torment him day and night awhile the other muses keep his spirits up. Of course, I am in the Author-Killer class, so I don't really care one way or another. So leave a review if you think there could be any form of improvement. And don't ignore Ch 11, it has a lot of action in it! Unless of course, you prefer to be bored out of your skull like the part retrovirus that you are, since it's proven that primal humans have viral DNA in their bodies since Man walked the Earth. If you don't believe me, look it up online on that primitive Wikipedia site.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, Nightmare Luffy and Oz would duke it out for 4 more chapters, as a instant defeat in one chapter is disappointing. Poor Luffy, he'll be ashes once the sun rises since no one but him knows that Moria has to declare defeat.

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Ch 12

When you think of killer insects, you think of the creatures that you see in a movie. "Giant bugs don't exist" you say, "insects don't kill humans." But in a world where pirates fight against the elements and the wrath of a world against them, anything was possible. Including the control of insects and wielding long strings that can cut through almost anything.

For Alto, it was the sheering pain of ants roaming around in his underwear biting at a rapid rate on anything that looked pale and thin. Why? In case some of you had forgotten, ants can balance on even the thinnest of string, and since they only use antenna, it didn't matter if the string had long since been washed of blood, making it hard to see again. Which is why numerous amounts of ants were sacrificed when hurled against the baton spinning shield, some latched on the strings and crawled their way down towards the fingers.

Naturally, Alto was unaware of this as he struggled to push back the horde, as Antoine caused the ant head to detach and rise upwards with hundreds of ants supporting it into a snake-like ant chain with pincers. 'A three-pronged attack, two ants pull the legs and arms in order to stretch, although the third cuts the middle section in order to dissect it. Man, this stinks, and my nose itches. Great...' He frowned, even as the ants started to move along his fingers and down his arms into the sleeves.

Soon, his body started itching as the ants crawled down disturbing body hairs, but there was little he could do about it as the third anthead shot out from Antione's shoulders, colliding against the make-shift barrier and holding steady as Alto's feet were pushed backwards a few feet.

"It's useless, Captain! Nothing can stand up to my Weaver Ant formation for long! Give up and I'll spare the lifes of your crew!" Antoine lied, as he continued to pour more and more ants upon his opponent.

"Never! I will stake my life on the line that I will not allow you to harm my crewmembers!" Alto said, even though the itch was now spreading along his armpits. Another interesting tidbit about Alto is that for a captain of his caliber, he is very ticklish. He held back a giggle as the small ants went down, unsure why he felt such a sensation. He continued to be pushed back, hid heels digging into the dirt.

A minute later, the ants retracted back into the arms and head as Antoine smiled evilly. "It seems that I'm about to win this round. The way you're sweating and squirming tells me that you can barely contain back laughter, as well as prevents you from using any more of those wireframe attacks."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Alto shivered, retracting the strings and laying them out on the floor should they be needed. By now the ants were covering tickle spots inside his clothes as well as in his briefs.

"Heaheahea...you're lying. And now, I'll show you one of the reasons why no one has stood against me! **Antz In Da Pantz**!" Antoine commanded loudly, as the ants hiding drove their pincers into the skin.

Two seconds later, the pain signals reached Alto's brain, in which he cried out in surprise as the ants bit into his sensitive spots, namely between the legs, his butt, thighs, hips, chest, ribs and a few others that would not be mentioned for the sake of keeping the rating normal. It was if a thousand sharp needles were inserted into his legs and a unorthodox prostate exam on his buttocks.

. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" To say the least, the bulging eyes and the frantic running were the least of his troubles as he attempted to empty his briefs of the rapidly multiplying ants that climbed up his legs from the ground. Of course, this in turn caused many a ant to 'lose their head' as he pulled them off in handfuls, but the pincers clanged on tight. Other times he felt ticklish and laughed out loud as he ran in circles and sometimes rolled on his back in hopes of crushing them.

'Pointless...my Bug Bug fruit will continue the endless cycle of pleasure and pain as more and more swarms will manifest from the endless anthills in this building and cover him from head to toe. They'll cut him, thrash him, mangle his corpse until there is nothing left. So much for a Navy captain, I bet my bounty will increase by 150 million when I finish him off.' Antoine thought, watching gleefully as Alto laughed and screamed, scooting on his butt like a wounded dog.

"God! Why can't I get them off me!" Alto moaned as he patted himself down to repeatedly squash a bunch of ants, only to have them replaced by several more of them that bit even harder into the skin and triggered the tickle spots.

---------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile...

"Heh...**Cresendo**, you're a riot." Rick said, helping with mopping off the blood as a gagged and bound Cresendo pouted on the reinforced steel chair, with numerous chains binding her still. "You took out a lot of pirates with that special power of yours, yet you were half-asleep when you did it."

"Hey, Rick! Don't mess with the Zoan, okay! You know that those chains are the only thing keeping you from being lunch, since Seastone only worsens her mind and increases her power." Jacob ordered strongly with a glare that could melt butter, getting out a large barrel of kerosene from the munitions room. Getting out a key from his left pocket, he unlocked the top to open it up.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I just think it's weird that this kid is one of the most dangerous Zoan users when she can barely control even one of her forms." Rick muttered, then pointed out the special drainage pipe. "The kerosene goes in that tube, as the new set up lists out."

"Are the others ready for this also? I don't want any screw-ups otherwise half the town might get razed." Jacob said, his eyes narrowed in a bit of distrust. He began pouring the oil down the pipe, aided by a round funnel as to prevent spillage.

"Heh, it's not like those **Mortar **guys who follow that whack-job of a firestarter, but the other two are busy getting the cannonballs and stuffing them in, plus go through all the math stuff with angles, distance and trajectories. It will take a few minutes to get it all relayed and adjusted for perfect targeting." Rick smiled, putting away a bleeding severed arm into the wastebacket.

"Hmmpph, Prelude knew what she was doing when she set up the cannon volley array. I will be at the 2nd floor, so call me as soon as you see the signal." Jacob said, opening up a hidden traphole with the latch, as a firepole shot upwards. Jumping onto it and clinging tightly, he went down to the second floor, as it was quite useful for getting from floor to floor without taking the stairs.

"Looks like you get to have some company after all." Rick chuckled, earning a blood-thirsty glare from the feral captive. He recognized the look, it was the same glare that one of his friends recieved right before she mauled him with her large teeth and claws. Slowly, he inched his way backwards in fright as he made his way to a safe area to clean, afraid of the vicious beast that could eat him like a stack of pancakes.

10 minutes later...

"The signal! The signal has been lit!" Rick called down with the speaker Den-Den moshi, in order to announce the news to the three floors which were loaded with 10 cannons on each floor. He could see clearly the SOS flare exploding into violet fireworks blooming over the island, marking the towers location.

Carefully, he brought out a box of matches out of his back pocket and walked over to the drainage pipe where the kerosene was dumped in.

For those reading but have no idea what the heck kerosene has to do with 30 cannons, it's rather simple: lack of manpower onboard during a crisis. You see, there is normal plumbing for showers and toilets, but also a additional pipe running through connected to the cannon rooms on the bottom to 1st floor before upper deck. Still following? As everyone knows, a cannon requires sulfur and gunpowder in the back, a round shot steel cannonball, sabot and a short fuse. The fuse is what is really important, even though the two worked hard to adjust the cannon's onto a specific angle to target the tower directly without causing fallout, a implosion tactic to protect their leader.

Over each one of the cannons is a T-jointed pipe with a tiny baster overhead which would drip a tiny bit of flaming kerosene on the short fuse. However, for it to be effective, Rick would have to drop a burning match into the funnel to ignite the kerosene and inform the others a few split-seconds with a high yell through the intercom before it arrives. At each pipe station, there is a brass knob that can cut the flow of the flames and quench it in a airless 'container' as soon as the drip has been made on each and every one of the cannon fuses.

To put it into words one can understand, a small flame comes down from a pipe which ignites the fuse. Now, some of you may be wondering, why not just light the fuses up one at a time? Simple, it requires absolute synchronization to be effective, as the 30 cannonballs combined would be equal to that of a large bomb explosion. Only this one could be contained and accurate enough to blow even a small group into oblivion or take out a large fortress by targeting the center in order for it to cave in.

5 seconds later, the air was thick with gunpowder being ignited inside the cannon, which in turn caused the sulfur inside to heave the cannonball round shot out at over 300 mph (give or take). At the same time, the flaming kerosene was sealed shut inside the pipes and relayed to a thick plated cermaic storage tank to let the fuel burn itself out.

------------------------------------------------------------

As Prelude waited patiently with Requiem on her back, she could hear the shrill cry of the round shot closing in at high speeds. She already selected a nearby house to hide in, closing the door behind her to prevent the numerous giant insects from coming in right away.

KRAAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Several houses were caught in the inferno as the tower bent inward, shaken heavily by the numerous cannonballs striking hard on impact and exploding. Oh yes, forgot to mention that like most One Piece cannonballs, they do explode. Sorry for forgetting that small detail. Anyways, the tower shook each time as the steel beams were broken apart and melted away, as the tower carelessly fell over on top of one of the island's hills cratering it as a result and fell dead silent as dust flew overhead, burying some of the houses in the aftermath.

"...Functions back online..." Requiem blinked, startled and awake now that the interference of the strong signal had vanished. However, she was still drooling up a storm on Prelude's Navy jacket, mainly because she thought that Prelude had asked of her to do awhile she was half brain-dead.

"Oh, you're back to normal?" Lifting her dumb-founded partner off her shoulders, Prelude offered a clean hankie for her. "Here, you have some drool on your lips."

Requiem stared blankly at the tissue, then bit down and began to chew on it as if it was a piece of baloney. To say the least, her mind was still a bit on the fritz.

'Okkkkkaaaaaayyyyyyy...' Prelude thought, sweatdropping as she turned to the window. What she saw outside shocked her, as if something like a miracle had occured which covered the island which may shift the balance in their favor.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell are you morons doing! Stop fighting each other at once!" Antoine yelled, looking up after noting that Alto was too much in pain to be a threat at the moment. His words fell on deaf ears, as the insects were already regaining their primitive, instinct based minds and decided that they were starving.

Moths, mantises and bees flew at each other, stinging and slashing at each other as they fought in the air for dominance. Centipedes and beetles tore at each other with their pincers, crickets rammed each other in the stands and chaos erupted as more and more insects were released from their 'mind' control all over the island, in which Prelude watched the carnage of brutal and utter carnage of their need to kill other insects. Yet, even with their minds back to normal, they feared the humans and stayed away from them knowing that they may try pesticides and fly swatters despite their size and viciousness.

Even Alto was laughing a little less than normal after 15 tormenting minutes of the ants messing with his body. After all, for Antoine to successfully cover the body, he would have to recruit dozens of ant colonies throughout the island. And those colonies...well, like humans, they are highly territorial. And the flesh that they stood on was their own brand of territory which was invaded upon.

To say the least, a war was being raged on Alto's body as the ants lunged at each other's throats with their mandibles and pincers, clawing antennas off and marking territory. Alto shook a few times trembling, unable to control the masses as they fought the 'enemy' that they once stood as a ally to.

"UUUUUUURRRRRRRGGGGGH! Get them off me!" He groaned, his legs feeling raw due to the ants chewing on his thighs and hips.

Only the ants making up the super exoskelton around Antoine remained unfazed, as his Devil Fruit power was limited to only a few feet in a wide radius around him without a amplifying device.

"No biggie..." He rolled his eyes chuckling, not really caring that his transmitter tower was taken down without him knowing."I can easily make a new one with my troops when they come back. But you..." He turned to face Alto with a sneer. "You will suffer dearly for messing with my nakama and my bug collection."

Unaware of what Antoine said, Alto used the last bit of strength into his left hand and flicked his thumb towards the steel pillar on the right wall pillar. The nearly invisible string silently impaled the pillar, then Alto slightly twirled the thumb around to ball the string into a tight knot. 'Soon...just have to ime it right...'

"I'll just kill you with this then. I was going to save it for someone more worthy, like that Strawhat kid, but this way I can watch your flesh burn away into nothingness." Antoine laughed, raising his arm as red colored half-inch long ants began to pour out of his black exoskeleton armor and moved upwards to cover his arm. "Insectology 101: The Flarine Island is well known for it's vicious **Flarine Fire Ants**. Can you guess why?"

Trying not to give away his ace in the hole, Alto gasped painfully shaking his head "no" to the question. He hid his left hand as well behind hs back, but made sure not to get it too close to his body. He could feel less tension as the armies of ants mowed themselves down, the stinging becoming less unbearable.

"Simple really...it's because when their temper rises, they can spew out flames in large batches. With my control over them, I can control those flames to incinerate those who oppose me by focusing their fire on a single point." The arm began to morph, shifting into a round cylinder-like shape with numerous sharp spikes surrounding it and a long hollow tube at the end within the radius's area of effect. It began pulsating with red light as each and every one of the fire ants began to gather up energy inside which would be shot out of the 'tube cannon'.

"Now you will see the true power of a 100 million bounty, the same power that brought this town to it's knees and destroyed numerous Navy Ships! Say your goodbyes because this is the end! **Abayarde Blazer**!!!!!!"

FWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSH! A enormous plume stream around 20 foot wide spewed out of the cannon, engulfing and incinerated the side of the room into ash, then destroyed the wall in front, then the nearby houses, the hundreds of fighting insects who happened to be nearby, a few unlucky marines and civilians, all the way out into the sea a few miles out before vanishing into thin air, leaving a trail of scorched earth and melted debris in his wake.

"Heaheaheahea! Do you see that? I have completely obliterated that fool with my ultimate attack! I'll be promoted for sur-" Antoine laughed viciously, but was cut short as a snicker was heard to his right.

"Who's a fool?" Alto grinned, winded and covered with slight 2nd degree burns on his skin and clothing as he limped towards Antoine, who had his jaw dropped in shock. He flicked a finger stealthly to the wall behind Antoine to keep it out of sight, then twirled it to knot the string. 'Gotta be careful, 3 of my strings were melted when I used this technique to evade...'

"Listen and listen good, you scumbag. I may be a Navy Man, but I don't really care much about what pirates do. The **Strawhats**, the **AxeHeads**, those crews I respect because I have yet to hear anything about them attacking civilians. I don't care about bounties, how much the Gorosei wants them, the dishonest opinons, all I do care about is if a moron like you crosses the line and hurts others for their own benefit. I really, really hate those kinds of people, Navy or Pirates, it doesn't matter. All I know is that you are coming to Headquarters so I can bring you to justice." Alto heaved, spinning his left hand a few times as to invoke a technique.

"Hmmmph, I don't understand a word you said. All I know it you're too far away for your strings to reach me and I'm already reenergizing my weapon. With your body worn out there is no way you can stop me!" Antoine said, turning to aim the super weapon upon Alto.

"That's what you think! **1 FINGER ZIP-LINE**!" With the high speed of a Soru, he became a high speed blur as he retracted the string, using the knot to support weight as he was pulled forward.

"Too slow! You're still going in a straight line, making it easy to target! Abayarde Bla-"

"**5 FINGER BULLWHIP**!" A heavy cracking sound could be heard across the island, as the factory suddenly exploded into a massive dome of fire, killing all the insects inside as a large stream of fire shot upwards from the center into the sky and blowing away the clouds in a ring-like wind caused by the updraft of scorching thermals.

Requiem, Prelude, Cresendo and even a slight confused and hung-over Gladyr who was looking out the window of the ship felt a strange tingle on their necks, as if something had gone horribly awry. 'Captain...'

--------------------------------------------------------------

**Antz in Da Pantz**: One of Antoine's signatures, can overwhelm entire crews into fits of laughter as the ants rip their opponent to shreds, bones and all. Can cover long distances and the ants always replace themselves if thrown out. Does high damage to the victims.

**Cresendo (title):** Given to the most dangerous Berzerker in the Academy. Cresendo earned it awhile sleepwalking, mauling most of her classmates and devouring them in her Zoan state despite the fact that she had no control over it. Berzerkers are basically the trump card, the 'weapon of last resort' which are known to attack both Navy and Pirates as they are too blood-thirsty to care.

**Mortar**: Up to 30 men operate this function on the ship with a sub-commander as the leader. Mortar shells weigh 480 lbs, filled with gunpowder to explode on promixity and are 36 inches in length, which are distributed by the individual assembly line similar to that of Garp's. Although not fully accurate, they can also be used as depth charges if they miss, sometimes tipping over ships and destroying the rudder.

**Flarine Fire Ants**: Based off a actual fire ant without the elemental ability, can gather large portions of heat within their tiny frames and release it in the form of flamethrowers. A single hive can hold tens of thousands to make certain everything is in order and they work under a fat Queen Ant which spawns hundreds per day.

**Abayarde Blazer**: How he recieved his 100 million bounty, can destroy half of a Navy Fleet in seconds but requires a lot of Flarine fire ants to complete the attack.

**1 Finger Zip-Line**: High speed attack, could be used to tackle or punch someone at Soru speed but can only go in one direction. After the attack ends, the knot untangles and is retracted.

**Strawhats, AxeHeads**: Both pirate crews looking for treasure and adventure. Not a major threat as far as Alto is concerned.

**5 Finger Bullwhip**: A whip made of 5 razor strings which is one of Alto's finishing moves, as it can break the sound barrier once cracked. Very fast and accurate, it is a double edged sword that could easily turn on him if used wrong as it has a mind of it's own when punishing pirates.


	13. Survival of the Fit? Prelude's grudge!

Drode: Hmmph...still 1 review. If you humans have problems with your eyes, the submit review is down at the bottom left corner. So tell us what can be improved! No fighting now, but it will get interesting later in the next chapter.

Ch 13

It was faint...yet felt so close. Gentle, smooth hands scrubbed along the skin, massaging every fold of muscle tissue. Yet everything was black and cold as ice glaciers summoned by **Aokiji**, one of the few Admirals worthy to serve the Gorosei, surrounded it. The scent of strawberries was arousing, and the breathing was getting into the earlobes to produce blushing.

'What happened? Who am I? Why am I so cold? What is cold?' A single thought bubbled from unconciousness, questioning the state that it was in.

Even then, the darkness continued to loom like a domed wall around the stray thought, not allowing it it's freedom. Well, not exactly a thought, it was more of a sightless, deaf soul wandering about in a narrow room. Yet it could feel hands and medical surgery done upon it, like a coma victim with his organs being taken out on the black market.

The soul bounced off a nearby wall when 'hovering forward', unable to pass through like a ghost could, then began bouncing all over the place. Although it didn't know it, he had went through several people's bodies causing them to shiver heavily as if a cold spot had appeared and vanished.

'Why can't I remember anything? What did I go through? How do I find myself?' It wondered, drifting along the ceiling part of the room. That last question confused even it. What was itself and why must it find it? Escaping was it's only chance, yet it felt content to stay for no reason. Why?

If only there was a door or a window...but what strange words were those coming from? Was it a piece of memory coming back? It didn't understand anything that was going on, even with that annoying tugging that it had felt when it appeared.

Strangely, it felt as if it was drawn to a odd presence as if being sucked in. It struggled against the pull, not fully understanding why it had to resist against such a powerful aura. Someone or something was chanting dully, in a way that even a deaf one could hear, yet the words sounded cryptic and strange, barely understandable for the most part.

Slowly, it could 'see' a bright light about a inch wide in the distance in which it was being pulled. 'Stay away from the light! Stay away!!!!' It screamed, really uncertain why it had to avoid such a comfortable area that could be the exit. Although formless, the soul flailed as if swimming in the air away from the light, but even as it struggled, the pull became stronger and tighter as if it was being reeled in by a fishing rod.

'No! I won't go! You can't make me! Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!' It screamed, feeling the light was almost upon it as it thrashed about wildly as if to break the invisible lure. Unknownst to it, it's actions were taking a effect on everyday items, but it wasn't a real issue. Slowly, the light engulfed the soul, turning into a large wide-open mouth that was ready to chomp. 'AAAAAAAAAAAH!" It gave offf a shrill cry of terror just as the jaws of doom closed over it in a tight overbite.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-!" SQUISH! Head lifted off the pillow, only to crash into a pair of fully grown D cups as Alto suddenly awoke screaming his head off in sheer fear of being swallowed whole. Now fully awake but with hazy vision, he could see a beautiful woman in white robes, sporting long blond hair and a gorgeous rack.

"Are you an angel? Because I think the pearly gates have nothing on you..." he swooned, blushing a bit in a way that his face felt flushed from the warmness of her chest.

Instead of smiling and giggling, the woman of his dreams frowned in disgust over that crude comment and spoke to someone behind her. "He's up..."

"What, really!?!? ALTO, YOU BASTARD!" A high-pitched war cry came out as a door slammed.

'Oh god, no! This is the exact opposite of where I wanted to die!' Alto sweated, recognizing that voice as he attempted to pull the covers over his head. Only to realize they were in casts and strapped down to the bed by steel brackets. His legs were also in casts, only his upper torso and head were unwrapped, which explained how he shifted upwards.

The beautiful woman quickly swerved to the right as Alto saw Prelude leaping towards him with a powerful straight right kick to the chest. "**Lightspeed Pilebunker Kick**!"

'Good grief...' Alto thought, as he took the extent of a wrecking ball due to Prelude's monsterous fighting skill, his eyes bulging and his heart skipped a few beats. At the same time, the bed broke beneath him as she ended up shattering it on impact, increasing the suffering further as his back gave way. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA  
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He cried out, spewing blood all over his shirt as his spine cracked a bit from the pressure of Prelude's boots.

A solid slap to the face shut him up, leaving a purple bruise mark on his face as Prelude angrily looked down at him, currently on his left side. "What the hell were you thinking, captain?"

"Considering I need to scratch my head to think about what you're talking about, I don't know what you mean. And was giving me a backache really needed? I can't feel my legs now!" Alto moaned, only to get slapped again.

"Shut it! I'm talking about your little stunt in the factory! You nearly destroyed the town and yourself for some lowlife pirate. One of the vats carried a flammable fuel that Mindrake had been working on, and you somehow ignited it!" Prelude yelled in his face, pulling him up by his ragged shirt. "If that fireblast earlier hadn't created a path for a new river to be made, everything within 5 miles woule have been obliterated! You're just lucky that you flew out of the explosion unconcious and landed on a rooftop. Gladyr had been working with the medic team that works on this island to patch you up, and Requiem had to work her mojo to keep your heartbeat going since she felt your 'spirit' or whatever left your body during the surgery."

"Surgery?" Alto repeated, dumb-founded that he could survive such a explosion. He leaned a bit to see Requiem sitting against the wall in a calm manner, praying with her hands. She was wearing a red hakama dress, a white Miko kimono with long, widened sleeves, brown sandals and red ribbons in her hair, as she had changed clothing since Marcus had ruined her clothes with his wet cement.

"Yeah. A few 3rd degree burns, the legs were cut up and bleeding, 45 percent of your chest hairs looked painfully removed, some flesh on your butt was missing, etc. Thankfully the people of this town were grateful for you saving them from being fed to the insects that they donated flesh, organs and other things." Prelude said, then followed his glance. "She's been mumbling that weird chant over and over for a day now. Quite frankly it was getting on my nerves since I hate foreign stuff."

Alto suddenly recalled something, "What about Antoine?"

Prelude stared back at him, puzzled over lhis concern, "Hmm? You mean the guy whose face looks like roadkill? We found him alive a half-mile away from the explosion, but he was badly wounded. Heck, he could barely speak. Gladyr imprisoned him in a full body cast though, so we should get the full bounty when those letters of the pictures we took arrive at the bases."

"Umm..." If Alto could scratch his neck, he would have to hide his embrassment when he recalled what happened. "That would be my doing. I used my bullwhip finishing move to kill his voicebox by hitting the neck in the right place right before he launched his attack. He looked a bit surprised as his arm went upwards and then shot the blast into the ceiling. Flaming debris covered the area and that's when the explosion occured." POWWWWW! A rage-induced fist cratered the floor and nearly shattered the ribcage as Prelude looked steamed, then punched him a few times in a rage-induced frenzy causing him to lose even more blood in the process.

"GOD! WHAT IS WITH YOU MEN AND EXPLOSIONS! ARRRRGH!" She yelled, plummeling him repeatedly.

"Shock Touch" With a simple poke to the back of the head, a high jolt of electricity passed through and rendered her into a state of unconciousness, slumping over on her side. Although feeling rather sore, Alto could see Gladyr walk towards him with his eyes half-closed as to conserve the static voltage stored within.

"Hey, Gladyr...do you think that you can get me out of those casts already? My back is really starting to cramp up in this position." Alto said with his now puffy lips, as his face was marked with several bruises and swelled bumps.

The good doctor held back a snicker looking at the face, then said as plainly as he could, "You have to let the bones reset. You lost a lot of blood and a few ribs were cracked, so it should take a few days worth to fully heal up." He also got out a newspaper from his side-pocket and get it show. "Oh yeah, and I have some good news. Apparently we don't have to attack the AxeHeads right now, as Vice Admiral **Roog** just took in the main amount of the ones with bounties and sent them to **Slayheim Island**."

"Yuck, that guy? Not only was he a terrible fighter, he has the worst armpits I've ever smelled when he gets into those poses! Not to mention that I know that he couldn't have beaten Axe on his own. Probably threw him in the water like the cheater that he is. And don't get me started on that place, that fortress is a pigsty and a disgrace to most of our prisons. They'll get out, since there is no prison that can hold those kind of pirates, including swordsmen." Alto complained in irriation, as Gandyr carefully lifted him out of the deep crater that was once part of the hospital room.

"Yes, yes. You and a lot of captains have that issue with that crude man. Still, you should just rest and let your injuries heal. Requiem will be around to speed up the process by warding away 'demons' and the like." The doctor grinned a somewhat toothless smile, due to the hammers that hit him in the jaw.

"I suppose...but I wanted to capture Axe. Now all that's left are Death Tree, that bone group, Drago's pirates, the Hawk crew and the Strawhats. But if you hear anything new about the Axeheads, tell me as soon as possible. That's an order." He sighed as he was placed into a new bed and fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow, snoring loudly.

'Whatever...there is no way in hell those pirates will escape.' Gladyr laughed to himself as he lifted Prelude over his shoulder, bypassing the odd sounds Requiem was making as he went through the door and closed it behind him ready to conduct some experiments of his own.

----------------------------------------------------

20 minutes and some stinky sweat socks later...

"Why!!!! Why! Why! Why!" Prelude exclaimed angrily, getting on top of Gladyr's body which was thrown to the floor, throttling his neck up and down bashing his head against the porcelain floor. "He deserves to be plummeled!"

"And yet...he is my patent, thus he needs to heal up. We still have to find our other members before we get on each other's nerves." Hhe garbled, feeling rather dizzy after getting smacked around so much.

"And why the heck would we do something like that? You, Requiem and me are more than a match for any pirate on the high seas." Prelude asked coldly, glaring down at him.

"Well...let's just say that with our forces spread thin across the globe, the big bosses want us to take them down as a group instead of being seperate. Take a look at what we're sent up against..." Fumbling in his other pocket, he brought out several wanted posters.

Carelessly snatching them out of his hands, Prelude took a look at what she was up against. "Crap (**Endo**). Crazy-looking. (**Shidyk**) Not worth a second look. (**Rayo**) Weak. (**Luffy**) Hello...what's this?" She grinned, looking at a peculiar poster.

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE  
**Niri Zolaro  
**Reward: 2,000,000

"Bwahahahahahaa! That bitch is a freaking pirate! I knew it from the start!" She laughed her head off, leaning slightly against a wall after getting off him.

"You know her?" Gladyr said, rising out of the ground as if the wounds inflicted were a mere hinderance. He took a medicine vial and popped in a few pills, allowing him to absently ignore the pain with only a few side-effects that will not be mentioned.

"How could I not? Of course, it was basically on my 3rd year of the academy and I was basically the star shining bright above those nobody snipers. Then SHE came along, a temporary exchange student from some god forsaken Navy Academy, who was only there for 2 months." Prelude seethed, bitting her hand repeatedly in pure hatred. "But during those two months, she had outgunned me on all my previous records at the shooting range, caused my friends to abandon me (save my 'boyfriend') so they could gather around her to chat lovingly, AND she always took the last Chocolate Parfait from the lunch table before I could get it!!!! She can mess with my shooting scores since I can always improve, she can take away my friends since I can always get new ones, but NO ONE STEALS MY FROZEN DAIRY TREAT EVERY DAY FOR TWO MONTHS!!!!"

"Ah, huh..." Gladyr rolled his eyes, not really caring much about his associate's grudges. Apparently whenever Prelude held a grudge against a person, it usually ended up in the person getting killed by a flare to the chest, igniting the skin and torching the body resulting in a slow, painful death.

"When she left, none of the food treats that I tasted had any real flavor to it, as if she had stolen all the flavor out of my passion. I hated her guts for that, and when I heard that she was locked up in prison, I threw a large party for most of the campus using the cash I use on horse bets in celebration of that twerp getting a ride to jail. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that I wouldn't see the end of her. Now I find that she had turned into a pirate, and I feel overjoyed that I am in a position to hunt her down and execute her with extreme PREJUDICE!" She roared, pumping her fists with excitement, ready to destroy the one that she had a grudge against.

"Considering that she was recently captured and sent to Slayheim Island, you may have to wait a while. There's even talk that she rejoined the Navy. Besides, we have to locate our other members before anything else-" Before he could say anything more, Prelude punched him with even more force, sending him flying across the hall and through a few walls.

"Moron..." She huffed, then rubbed the sore hand with sorrowful eyes. "Our captain is far too weak physically without his jujutsu and those **Wapolium Strings**, that's why I'm the real muscle of the group. You're just here to pick up the pieces and put them back together, ya dig? Anyways, just because she's back on our side doesn't mean I forgive her. No, best to wait a bit more until she's within my striking range, and then I'll roast that pretty skull of hers with a single shot." With that, she left to the ship to load up on more flares.

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Ririlan Island, 1340 hours...

During the time of exploration, it was said that the island was caved in into a bowl-like shape about 50 miles in width, save for the shoreline, and was known to be a inactive volcano for at least 300 years. But when the World Government heard of it, the crater was filled with a strong non-flammable cement, then a large towering building was built from that foundation covered with thorned vines.

That building was a Intelligence HQ for the World Government, known as the Phantom CP4 Corporation, as they track down pirates so secretly that their presence was unseen until they were struck in the back with a seastone dagger. Although the vines had broken into the building through erosion and open windows, the personnel enjoyed the smell of fresh flowers blooming every day since it was always Summer.

Like all Intelligence offices, the head honcho was at the top awhile the officers were scattered throughout the islands seeking data on potential threats. **Dirk Stiran** was his name, a somewhat lazy tub of lard in a white lab coat and brown 'clown shoes' 3 feet in length which squeaked for some reason. And he was going for the world record, of putting a golf ball into a plastic cup a few feet away. 'Easy...easy, does it...' He sweated, some of it going on his bi-focal glass lenses which allowed him the ability to see intrared residue as well as heat signatures.

That was when one of the interns brushed right in without knocking, "Sir! Urgent news from the fleet-GAH!" As the young man was about to explain, Dirk suddenly swung too hard which in turn nailed the ball and drove it a few inches into the person's skull, killing him upon impact.

"God! Every freaking time! I even put a Knock on Door sign so I can prevent this problem of slip-ups!"

Fuming, the head scientist put away his golf club, then picked off the files off the floor in order to examine them, ignoring the bleeding corpse. He'll call his secretary to throw it into the ocean like the other interns who dared to mess with his golf time.

"Let's see now...OVER 500 MILLION BERRI?!!?!?! Does Roog think we're made of money? I have a good mind to just rip that check from under him if he thinks he can pull something like this on me. I don't care if he is a Vice Admiral, the World Government is currently suffering money issues because of the Revolutionaries!"

"Still...to think that D. Axe is dead, NO! I refuse to allow a moron like Roog take that much cash from us when there is no photographic proof of their capture! According to the rules, the dead body must be brought in for autopsy and identification examining in order to obtain the full payment."

"But enough about that, I'll send a complaint later to his office. Let's see...a few bills, a new document on that **Coilgun** experiment...odd, Mindrake decided to discontinue it. Dang, that would have made our cannons a lot stronger. Ohh...it seems those guys actually managed to snag that pesky Antoine guy and kept him alive for a change. Rogg could actually learn something from those guys since they always keep the captain alive and kill the rest of the crew since the bounty works both ways."

"I'll send them a fruit basket and the check since they actually GAVE me photographic proof of the corpses and the captain. That should be able to tide them over with more seamen and equipment." He said, sending a check through the Navy Pelican Express mail-slot, then turned to the rest of the files. His right eyebrow raised in question and a bit of alarm as he looked through the last folder. "High levels of radiation found around neighboring islands Jaxalla and Gouho, which were seemingly obliterated into non-existence. Eternal Pose states plainly that the islands have simply vanished, even though the magnetic signal still exists. Reports state Revolutionary Groups had been stationed inside the island's caves which had by far repelled all forms of Navy attack from air, land and sea. Bodies have not been found, even with the help of Merman sonar echoes. Good Lord, he's come back!!!"

His face ashen pale as the color drained out, he slowly backed away towards the door which he knew his secretary was on the other side with a Den-Den Mushi equipped to broadcast on the loudspeakers to each and every crew member available. A faint whistling sound could be heard from outside through his open window, as he squinted a bit in order to make it out.

It was a ball. A blue ball with white stripes spiraling inside of it with a 'tail' of green flame trailing behind it. Also known as the 'Doomsday Bomb' to those high-ranked in the Navy, as although it was the size of a coconut, appearances can be deceiving as it flew on course towards the island base. Dirk's pants became wet, dripping down the legs fearfully as his eyes bulged out in terror.

"Ms. Franchaise! Emergency tactics within 15 seconds! Barricide the Iron Walls immediately!" He shouted his head off, scrambling to the open door as the small projectile continued to move towards at a dismal speed. That was the weakness of such a powerful weapon, it could only go up to 25 mph when fired which in a way is easy to dodge. But a fortress is not that easy to move.

Slowly, the building shook rapidly as the announcement was made, as alarms blared and navy men scrambled for their lifes to the levers. Gears shifted, pulleys were raised and steam blew upwards around the beach by underground man-made pipes. A shallow slit about a foot wide opened up, allowing buckets of sand to pour in, as it was expanding from end to end, a total of 60 feet long. And from that slit, pushed upwards by pressurized gas-included platforms, came a wall made of solid lead as long as the slit and as tall as the building itself. The wall was to protect the building against grape and round shot cannonballs, as well as radiation, but it had never been used until today.

All this occured within 10 seconds, yet they were the longest seconds of Dirk's life as he ducked under his desk and crouched inward, shaking like a leaf and sweating up a storm. 'I-it's okay! The defense system that the World Government gave us should handle such a explosion. There's no way it can penerate it!' BONK! He blinked, as a rather crude sound came from outside, causing him to peer from his desk to see that the explosion didn't occur.

To put irony in this standard, the ball never exploded once it collided with the 230 million berri hand-crafted lead wall. Instead, it just bounced and fell on the beach, not even leaving a crater hovering a half-inch from the ground. Yet, it was still twirling inside but the 'tail' was missing, a rather peculiar sight.

Minutes later, as soon as the alarms shut down and the wall was forcibly retracted into the ground (as the pumps were deactivated), the beach was overflowing with marines of several ranks bearing guns to point directly at the weapon of mass destruction.

"NO ONE TOUCH IT! IT MAY BE A DUD, BUT ONLY AUTHORIZED SCIENTISTS MAY APPROACH THE SPHERE!" A Navy corporal yelled, wielding a platinum saber to ward off any who dared to come close.

A team of four scientists had already arrived, wearing lead-based haz-mat suits with pumping oxygen tubes leading to a pair of bicycles filtering the air. Dirk was among them, ashamed of his cowardice but glad no one had seen him. Still, despite his concerns, the other three had never really seen a orb like this in real life.

The 'Doomsday Bomb', although a dud, was theorically a compressed chunk of zero particle concentration made of black body radiation surrounding it. In short terms, it was made of the vacuum of space, but confined into that shape until detonated. The radiation would only hurt those who came in close contact or if it explodes, but the bomb could be contained with the Lead Container that half-life uranium was stored in for study. Not that uranium had been used as a weapon, it was merely tested for side-effects on lab rats and squirrels to see if it could induce suffering on pirates and strip them of Devil Fruit powers.

'What could that man be thinking, attacking us? Has he gone mad with his own power?' Dirk thought, as he slowly approached the ball with a pair of lead tongs.

Every set of eyes set on him as he knelt down to retrieve the sphere, as it was still a threat to them. Containing it would work, but where to put it afterwards? If it was exposed underwater, the vacuum would destroy the ocean's ecosystem and probably generate complaints from the mutant mermen.

No, the most logical thing was to store it in the Holy Land where the Gorosei would keep control over it. It was said that those five were 'immune' to devil fruits in all aspects and elements. Why? Even the top scientists and the doctors that have been watching over the Gorosei generation to generation had no answer.

''Easy...steady now..." He said slowly, sweat dripping from his forehead as the tongs closed in around the orb. As soon as the two connected, he felt a bit relieved as he brought it up a few feet. That was when the stripes turned crimson red, and the spiraling went counter-clockwise. 'Wha-!'

There was no sound, no flash of light, no immense explosion of gas and heat. Vacuum has none of those features, as it could not blow out the heat of a star or a planet. Flesh, bones, blood, all of it eradicated at the molecular level, followed by the bricks, wood, steel, cotton, iron, and sand. Blankness simply overtook the island and then was confined to it, in order to prevent it from spreading outwards and consuming the planet whole.

In a matter of seconds, what remained of Ricilan Island was a long stretch of ice, a unnatural glacier frozen where water laid beneath the island. For in the atmosphere of space, only a heated space suit could save a person from being frozen solid. But it would only be around for a few hours before melting, leaving a high amount of radiation in it's wake.

---------------------------------------------

"Whoo! Yeah! You showed those guys who's boss, Boss!" A young man cried out, weilding a brown-haired, slicked regent mullet on his forehead and a purple-colored Navy Uniform, marked with painted Xs and Os. He wore pointed sandals and his eyes were replaced by telescope binoculars for some odd reason, affixed to his face. On his back was a rather large metal oar with a smiley face painted on it.

"Oh, shush **Rallentando**. You're just trying to distract me from my hand." A violet, long haired beauty with smooth curves in a orange Navy uniform with red stripes running around her arms and legs stated, looking at the cards in her hand. She wore large round glasses and her blue eyes were ice cold, the eyes of a killer. Around her were glass bottles with what appeared to be moving human dolls inside.

The two watched each other closely, drawing cards and checking for subtle movements of the eyes and face. As former Navy sub-commanders, they were good friends despite their extreme dislike of each other.

"Ready to give in, **Scordatura**?" Rallentando asked, his binoculars gleaming with satisfaction with his hand.

"I doubt it. You sure you want to clean up the coral flakes on **Maestroso**'s back for a month? That stupid stick of yours might drown if you slip on his waxy skin." She said, smirking as she also had a good set of cards.

"**Bob** isn't stupid! You take that back!"

"It's not even alive for christ's sake! Yet you're using it to cheat!"

"Bob would never cheat in a card game!"

"Ya he would! So far you had removed over 7 cards from play and you have 5 in your hand that haven't changed at all."

"You have no proof! Tell her that you're not cheating, Bob!"

"..."

"See! He said that he hasn't been looking at the reflection in your eyes to see your hand so he's not cheating."

"Hmmph, if you say so. But if I see you lean in one more time 'accidentally', I'll throw that damned stick into the ocean. You got it?"

A dull, heavy groan could be heard beneath them, as Maestoso began to open his large mouth to engulf krill floating on the water's surface by the truckload. The numerous harpoon cannons shook wildly causing the two to bounce up and down on his leathery skin.

"..."

"Bob says that Maestroso is getting lunch ready, but preparations will take a half hour."

"As long as he finds a salmon or trout, I don't care. I'm getting sick of krill every day."

"Oh, suck it up. Royal Flush."

"Dang! Bob, you told me she had a Full House!"

"I knew it! Come here so I can strangle you!"

"Knock it off, you two." A firm, commanding voice caused Scordatura to let go of her friend's throat, as a Gray-haired man in Blood-red **Commedore** clothing approached them, his fedora hat had a puffy red feather attached to the top rim. The two looked right through him, literally, as although his clothes were seen, his body and flesh were 'see-through' in a way that not even light could be seen to make a shadow behind him. His 'hair' was shaggy and down to his shoulders, and his eyes were as white as a dwarf star.

"Yes, Commander **Mezzo**..." The two sub-commander bowed down in shame, feeling the intensity of the immense power he wielded.

"Good..." Mezzo averted his glance away as he turned to face the empty ocean. "Tomorrow, at 0700 hours, I will have you two go to the port of Nigarat Island, where I understand the villagers are hiding a dangerous Revolutionary convict. My strength is currently low, so awhile you take out the villagers and the convict, you will take their food supply once you are certain that they are all killed. I am certain by now that the crew inside Maestroso have perished and melted away into the intestines, leaving their rowboat behind in the throat. Take it within 20 miles of the island, I will stay here to fire off rounds in order to destroy the small shipyard and any fleeing transport ships. Leave nothing standing, burn everything but the food to the ground in a 'Scorched Earth' scenario. The World Government will not know that we are behind it if there are no witnesses, but the leaders of the Revolution will know and scatter their forces further in which we must strive to weaken them economically and politically. That is why we are the Rogue Hunters, the ones who get their hands dirty hunting down revolution leaders instead of pirates. This is a full and clear order from your commander and former commodere captain, dismissed."

With that, he vanished, perhaps into his own private quarters as the two grinned wickedly, filled with hatred and malice in their eyes.

'This is going to be fun...so many men to become my personal play-thing...'

'Me and Bob will make sure no one rises against us, and we'll kill the next batch of islands as well when it comes to it. After all, Bob wants the best for me...'

'And soon, I will take the world by storm!' The two thought as one, watching the sun set in the distance.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Aokiji**: A powerful Admiral that controls ice, but respects Alto as he is willing to serve his own brand of justice.

**Lightspeed Pilebunker Kick**: In a way, Prelude has a high amount of strength that surpasses her physical limits whenever she's mad. That unstoppable brute force shifts into high gear only on her captain, in which she would beat him to a bloody pulp with her hands and feet.

**Miko:** Before her home was burnt down, she served as a priestess to a shrine to pray for rain and the like. It is said she gained her title because she can see 'spirits' made of electrical pulses in the air due to her Devil Fruit. She also holds sermons and church every Sunday to pray on the ship, in which the crew eagerly come to watch for hours on end.

**Roog**: Powerful guy made by Kilnorc, 6 arms and powerful attacks.

**Slayheim Island:** Mountainous land surrounded by water,where only the strong survive by worshipping the prison's ruler.

**Niri**: Sniper on the AxeHead crew, speciality: firearms of many sorts as well as a powerful pistol. Prelude really wants her dead.

**Wapolium Strings**: Durable, flexible, easy to control. Weak against heat, water and powerful blades. Can cut through stone and most metals. Costs 50 million to replace a few of them, Alto mastered them at the age of 15.

**Coilgun** (guass gun): Earliest form of railgun. Extremely powerful but lacks a long-lived power source.

**Dirk Stiran:** Scientist with several degrees, specializes on Navy etiquette, 43 years old. Not much of a fighter though, but works with the bomb squad to take out serious threats.

**Commedore**: A high rank of the Navy.

**Scordatura**: A sly 23 year old vixen with good luck on her side, she sees men as nothing but toys to play with. After all, she was almost taken by a Navy male in the bath, but Mezzo saved her and killed the pervert. She had eaten the Shrink Shrink paramercia fruit, which allows her to shrink either herself or her opponent to the size of 4 inches maximum. However, it only takes effect if the person is within 2 feet of her and that she touches them. The body structure and the powers the affected person has are greatly reduced, making it easy for her to hurt them, and then entrap them in glass bottles which prevents them from regrowing to full size. She joined Mezzo as a way to show how faithful she is and to mess with the bodies of pirates and normal humans.

**Rallentando:** A hyper and outgoing guy who was always picked on in the navy for his bad sense in clothing and stupid haircut, 25 years old. As a prank, some jerks permanently glued a set of telescopic binoculars to his eyes, which could not be removed with modern technology or medical surgery. He hates those who pick on weaker humans and wants to make the world into a utopia without violence or bullying. Very agile, tends to take his time in a fight and knows a bit of street fighting with his fists, works as a team with Bob who had been his friend during the days in the Academy. Works for Mezzo as he wants revenge on the Navy and pirates, serving as the navigator.

**Maestroso**: One of the few surviving Whale Merman, who is probably twice the size and length of the Thousand Sunny. He is a Blue Whale-type, but is unable to speak English. However, Bob seems to translate for him. He can trap small ships and digest metal, but not cloth or flesh, making it hard to cut him. Also, due to the water he swallows, he can trap Devil Fruit users inside sapping away their strength and dehydrating them for months on end. He has a large amount of harpoon cannons without ropes attached to his back and sides, to destroy ships and sink them. He serves as the ship and a cook, specializing in krill dishes. He joined because he hates most humans since they hunted his species and killed them off almost to extinction.

**Bob**: Rallentando's best and only friend, who seems to 'talk' through his partner's 'imaginitive' side, ageless. Being a Oar, it is ironic that 'he' had eaten a Devil Fruit through Navy science. This power is the Ash Ash fruit, which is basically the paramecia ability to spew out a controlled stream of heated gray smoke which would cremate or heavily burn those in it's way, as well as cut off the flow of oxygen to the victim when the cloud grows and spreads over villages. If it has a concious mind, it has yet to reveal it.

**Mezzo**: Former commodere, one of the Navy's ultimate weapons when dealing with pirates and revolutionaries and 32 years old. Quit 10 years after he felt bored with the repetitiveness and rules, forming his own squad made of those he trusts. Is very paranoid and thinks that civilians are actually revolutionaries, as well as there being spies in the Navy and Gorosei. Uses the Logia Fruit Vacuum Vacuum, which turns him into a transparent person without his clothes as well as gives him the power of Space Vacuum.


	14. Operation Necrofain Commences!

Drode: (yawns, waking up from his month long sleep) Yo. Since the author had been working on exams and such, it was a bit harder to get stuff together. Thankfully I convinced him to work a little on this each day. We should get back to normal updates soon. And to Mr. 4, what Devil Fruits need adjusting, as Requiem's attacks will be more specific in the next arc? Oh yeah, as for the prize in the summary, go all the way down. Thank you.

Ch 14

* * *

_'When the world revolves, the moon causes the tides to rise and fall. If the moon didn't exist, we would be underwater by now. Times change...'_

The sky was darkened, as a red moon settled over the island of Nightwind, as vicious tidal waves struck the shoreline repeatedly, frightening the mares roaming the cobblestone roads. Wolves howled, villagers in torn rags screamed in panic and dogs barked all over the countryside.

Nightwind Island was known as a medieval land, similar to the villages in England during the 1400s, mostly with straw roofs and cobblestone walls. And was well-known as a good vacation spot as well, being a **Spring Island** and well preserved through generous donations by the World Government as to preserve the essence of the past 1000 years on that very spot. Kinda like a Rural Life museum only island-sized and outdoors.

To say that a place like this would be peaceful, yet like any good diorama of a ancient kingdom, there would be kings and castles. Two of them to be exact, one placed on the western and eastern points of the island. One held the **Sven Army**, the other was the **Ovan Army**, and they held annual festivals and 'mock battles' for tourists to enjoy similar to a Renaissance fair.

However...since it was a bit late in the morning before the sunrise, the hundreds of flaming arrows pouring down on the small flammable village seemed a bit much for a fake scenario. Or the dozens of screaming nutcases in chainmail armor, waving real swords around to decapitate anyone outside their homes, their eyes covered with a purple glow.

Blood was spilled, heads were cleaved open, bodies were run through by long lances and the town armory was seized in a matter of minutes. Children were taken out of their beds forcibly, beaten down and forced to watch their parents die in front of them gruelsomely by spiked maces or hangings. And yet, despite the barbaric yelling and fake war chants, the knights didn't really seem that much into the killing of the village actors or the horses, but did it anyway against their will.

In the midst of the burning town, four non-chainmail wearing figures looked towards the Sven castle, which was sending suppression knights to stop the insane knights as the drawbridge lowered.

"It seems we have company. I estimate 89 chance of victory within five minutes." A young man with flowing blond hair down to his shoulders smirked, wearing a rather bulky winter coat with a furry hood. He wore snow pants on his legs, ski-goggles over his face and rubber flame-retardant boots that seemed to burn the grass beneath. His red eyes gleamed over the fires that he himself started, enjoying the warmth and chaos.

"Let them come with their horses and swords. With no actual skill in combat, I will make them suffer for pretending to be strong, de gozaru." This came from the lean, black-haired man in a pink hakama and kimono, in which his hair was bunched up into a top knot. Lilacs were painted on the front of his kimono, and his katana was attached to his belt, ready for quick slashing.

"Ha! You guys just wait your turn! I'll kill the most and arrive at the castle way before you guys do!" A hulking brute of a man with stubble on his chin and a spiked brown haircut said, grinning in amusement. He wore no shirt, but wore baggy, stretchable latex pants and had no shoes on to cover this coarse, filthy feet that looked like they had been stepping on hot coals and thumb-tacks. A sword sheath was attached to his belt, a very long one, his chest wore several battle scars and he wore several silver rings on his arms and legs.

"Just don't take too long, the sun will be up in four hours and your strength will be at it's weakest since you did your technique prematurely. I'll take the lead and make certain the drawbridge stays down." A well-endowed female woman with what appeared to be a pointed aerodynamic biker helmet with a black face visor, dressed in a friction-proof, heat-proof leotard and spiked running shoes. A lime green line was painted on her arms and legs, as well as around her waist and three straight lines on the helmet.

The woman brought out two long, curved blades that looked like shark fins but three times as big, then snapped them together and twisted to merge them. "Let's get hopping!" With that, she shot towards the crowd like a bullet, increasing her speed until it looked like she was morphing into something, a white blur with antlers. Row by row, men found their legs severed away by the sword's swift cut, yet cauterized to prevent blood flow. A path of downed bodies was left in her wake, with large dirt footprints on their bodies.

"Show off..." The big guy muttered, lumbering over to the group as he drew two thick kodachi from each side of the scabbard. Closing his eyes, he let his killing ki flare upwards like a rocket, frightening a few knights and many horses as the air wavered around him as if heated to desert level. Then, he brought that ki back into his body and refocused it in his eyes, which gleamed rather brilliantly over the knights.

"What's this?"

"I can't move!"

"Can't get up!"

"Bit...my tongue...pain!"

With a gleeful battle cry, the man swooped in to run a kodachi right through the thin chainmail of the lead knight, then threw him over his shoulder as if he was as light as air far off in the distance. He then chopped off the head of the horse, then the legs for good measure. The other knights sweated in terror, unable to move now that the man's killing ki had immobilized them for the most part. The** kodachis** continued to slash through the troops, as the man enjoyed getting sprayed by blood, a natural killer.

"I don't see why he's so happy about this. It's unsporting to freeze the weak kis of normal actors pretending to be knights." The kimono-wearing man said calmly, walking past the frozen bodies in a bit of disappointment.

"Oh, let him have his fun. The less swords I have to melt, the more pleased the captain will be." The Eskimo said, grinning ear-to-ear. "Besides, the effect only lasts a few minutes anyways, that **Shin no Ippô** technique. Only a expert level swordsman with a equal bloodlust killing ki can break it."

"I suppose."

The brute laughed, swinging up more bodies as he hacked them apart with sheer physical power. "Come on, guys! Don't leave me hanging. We can set the bodies on fire and launch them at the castle!"

The kimono person snorted in disgust, turning snidely to face the slayer. "Not interested. I prefer not to kill a person who cannot move de gozaru." With that, he moved swiftly towards the castle with killing intent in his eyes.

The big guy grumbled under his breath, irritated that he had to do all the work as more and more of the knights were slashed heavily, dropping like flies all over the area. Yet a few managed to become set free after the time limit expired for them, charging head on towards the behemoth's back.

The giant didn't even notice as the swords plunged in, possibly damaging his liver and blood arteries, and maybe his heart. In fact, he briefly yawned scratching his rump before turning his head sideways to look down at them in a amused manner. "Morons...**Sweeper Plunge!"** With a fast shift of his right hand to turn his arm the opposite way, he skewered the three with one kodachi through the stomach, then lifted them off the ground like a shish-ka-bob. "All you did was give me a small itch, so I'm going to send ya flying over to my partner. You ready?"

The Eskimo nodded, standing several feet away from him, arms out in front with palms extended. "Ready."

"Then here we go! **Thrasher Toss**!"

The three were thrown heavily, the kodachi seemed to have punctured through each stomach, causing them all to bleed into each other as they flew towards the man in winter clothing screaming out in pain. It was over for them in a second, for as soon as they collided with the palms, they were set ablaze until there was nothing left but ashes and melted scrap metal.

"**Winter Breeze**...hits so fast that it burns." The man grinned, as he drew a sword hilt out of his parka jacket. The big guy raised a questionable eyebrow at that weapon.

"You're using the **Urumi** for these trash? Seriously, that rare **nodachi** will suit them a-"

"The Urumi will be my weapon of choice for today. End of discussion. Unless you DON'T want me to heal your cuts after the sun rises." The man said coldly, as he unveiled a 20 foot long thin sword that he had wrapped around his waist like a corset. Slowly, he unwrapped it coil by coil until it was laid out on the floor like a long extension cord, revealing his somewhat plump belly.

"After this, I shall go on a Hunger Strike for 20 days to fast. Such is the fate for me..." The Eskimo said, as he thrusted his arm downwards to cause the long, thin blade to 'bounce upwards' in waves around the crowd. "Strike hard, **Asper**!" Much blood was spilled is the best summarization of the slaughter.

-------------------------------------------------

The drawbridge was beginning to rise off the grass, and arrows flew from above in large droves to ward off the very fast woman who seemed to swerve around them. Some of them actually managed to see the woman right before their legs were cut off by the curved blades, for she now was covered with brown and white fur and heavily muscled, especially around her now clown shoe-sized padded feet. Two large, pointed antlers on her widened forehead. a fluffy bob tail and long, sleek pointed ears ran down each side of her special helmet, as she sped and gored one knight after another in her path, the horns sharpened to the point of cutting through a cue ball with the antlers as the stick.

"**Running Pounce**!" Gathering momentum in her knees, she sprung upwards and flipped forward to defer a barrage of flaming arrows with her double-edged weapon spinning along with her, before landing on the wooden drawbridge as it began to slant upwards. She winced, feeling the rough splinters drive sharping into her feet.

Sliding downwards, she quickly decapitated the man operating the chain wheel pulley that raised and dropped the drawbridge with a swift slash to the head, splitting it apart and cauterizing it to prevent blood spill. Then with a spin on one toe, she sliced the metal chain with a bit of focus, allowing the drawbridge to drop down. After all, the moat below had numerous man-eating fish and electric eels, which would be a problem for most people wanting to cross it.

After waiting a few minutes, she greeted the pink kimono swordsman with a brief wave, as he nimbly walked along the wooden platform a bit nervous of the fish below.

"I never could understand how fish can live in such a small amount of space." He muttered under his breath, passing by her calmly. "I just hope the boss gets here soon..."

The woman nodded, shifting into her human form as she walked with him down the stone corridors. Along the way, coat of arms hung along the walls, each with different symbols and animals made on them, since each year a different royal family was made up to challenge the castle, and they failed to win the annual mock battle, then they would be discharged into peasant actor roles and their coat of arms flag would be given to the winner. Rows of 'empty' knight armors with axes and swords lined themselves on each wall, with a plaque of the knight that wore the armor in a mock battle.

"This is sorta creepy de gozaru..." The swordsman wimpered, feeling eyes from a nearby painting stare at him.

"According to the blueprints that the 'former' King left us, we just have to take a few left turns and one right in order to find the main chamber. With the main army fighting those two, we should be able to find what we came for." The woman said calmly, showing that she was wearing a Log Pose. One that was pointing upwards for some reason. "I'm just glad I'm not cooped up on the ship any more. I was literally jumping on the ceiling."

"I'm sure, I'm sure. That fear of closed spaces is one of your deepest fears after all." The swordsman nodded, knowing full well that she had a tendency to go into a frenzy when cramped into small, enclosed spaces. Back then, the boss freed her from a cage that some conglomerate zookeeper kept Zoans in and allowed her to join his cause. She was really into him afterwards, but he never returned her advances for some reason.

The sound of approaching metal feet on stone floor snapped him out of his memories as the woman began to shift her body again, but slowly this time.

"Not enough time for a Powerhouse transformation, you have to guard me for bit."

The swordsman nodded, unsheathing the green tinted katana and went into a partial crouch, both knees bent, left arm drawn back and right extended forward; he grasping the hilt of his sword with his left hand and resets the tips of the fingers of his right hand on the blade near its tip. His eyes were that of a tigers, slanted and light green as the knights approached them.

"Halt! By the name of the King!"

"**Ishiki Shukuchi**!" He charged inwards, then vanished before their eyes, only to reappear a inch in front of the first one in first to deliver a powerful thrust to the chest. The power beyond it was so strong that his opponent was thrown several feet away, knocking over those behind him. One of them landed a lucky blow with a fist, knocking the man back a bit before he regained his balance.

"Heh...not bad..." A fast swipe, and the knight was now missing an arm, "but lacks natural rhythm."

With each thrust, he took a bit of pride as he killed one knight after another, but he also took a few slashes and hits due to the inability to block during a thrust. Yet to him the wounds were non-life threatening, and his 'assistant' had bandages, so it didn't matter what happened to him as he pierced chests and faces with swift accuracy.

It wasn't long before the hallway was cleared, littered with corpses of knight actors and blood stains on the walls. Each of their swords were pried forcefully from their hands, and then placed into a ceramic vase.

"Whew! That was a good battle! Thanks for covering for me." The lady said, beginning to turn back to human form, as her blood-stained antlers were sucked into her forehead. Since there was little room to use her speed sprint slice, she settled for kick-boxing the crud out of her opponents.

"No problem. It would violate my bushido code if I put a lady in danger." The swordsman said calmly, reshealthing the blade and continued forward.

5 seperate Ambushes and 10 vases full of swords later...

"**Zero Point Stance**! HEEEYA!" The 2 ton wooden doors, steel-bolted by numerous metal locks and bars, simply were run through by a steaming red katana, leaving a 2 foot wide hole in it's wake.

"My turn! **Clodhopper Snapkick**!" The large foot slammed hard into the door now that it was weakened, shattering it apart as if it was made of glass. With that, they two walked upon a smooth red silk carpet in a large throne room, surrounded by red banners with the king's logo on them. Large stone pillars were lined up along the walls, and there were artistic glass windows and skylights as well.

The person on the stairs was a middle-aged man with a thick, burly black mustache, draped in a purple fur cape. He wore a green leotard, gold cufflinks and wore a gold crown on his head with jewels implanted into it, as well as brown stockings and boots that looked barren and broken down with age.

"King Francis, I presume..." The swordsman said calmly, staring at the king with a stern glare that could cut right through him.

"Wha-! What are you people? I recognize you as one of King Ovan's bodyguards from last week during a mock debate, but I didn't know that you would attack us so suddenly without a warning of some kind." The king said, absolutely shocked that they broke down the heavy door so easily. He began to draw his own sword from his scabbard.

"Don't." The woman's words stopped him from getting slain quickly by her friend. "It's not you that we are after, it is-"

"Dad? What's going on? It's 4:50 in the morning." A lanky, 13 year old said in a sleepy tone, walking through a nearby corridor in blue post modern PJs. He had matted bedhead blue hair, with a small ponytail at the end and his eyes were currently getting rubbed.

"Son! Don't get too close! They are pirates!" The king said, finally drawing his sword, a elegant rapier with pearls merged into it, and the hilt was curved in a way to block off heavy sword strikes and then push them away. He launched himself at the swordsman first, as he looked a bit tired from using that attack on the door.

'This isn't good...Zero Stance Gatotsu with narrowed earth speed weakens my legs...' He thought, as they two came to blows, one blocking the other's attack with powerful slashes and thrusts, and then returning the blows with twice the strength with the other accurately evading them. Overhead slice, forward parry, rapid thrust, multiple slashes to body parts, heavy horizontal cut, leaping over to deliver a neck slash, vertical block and parry, the two blades clanged as sparks flew from the edges, pushing for dominance. Each was experienced in a different field, switching stances to adapt and protect themselves, them unleashed the full brunt of it against the other, moving like quicksilver around the throne room.

The woman sighed, rubbing her head as she began to walk over to the tall teenager, placing both fin swords back into her hip scabbards. She had to move a bit to avoid the two, as they seemed eager to best the other with swordsman's pride on the line. Holes began to explode all over the area due to the heavy thrusts, as well as the stone floor and walls shattering under powerful hits that were dodged.

'He could just cut the sword...but the boss did say that it was to be left alone. What worries me is that we have only a half hour before the sun rises. Our tank member would be at his lowest strength by that time...' The woman thought, approaching the kid wearing a nice grin on his face.

"Hello...Mello." The boy said, still smiling as the woman's blood froze in an instant, stunned by the words. His smile widened, feeling the fear that she was giving off as she instinctively began to shift into animal form. "Interesting...the **Hare Hare** Zoan Fruit, Model Jacklope. Said to be one of the strongest of offensive/defensive running zoans."

"And you are our contact?" Mello said, as her muscular furry arms trembled from the intense killing ki that he was releasing around him. Clearly the kid was not just a normal civilian, her whiskers twitched with anticipation.

"You can say that..."

With a single swipe of his hand, a dagger shot out of his sleeve and embedded it hard in the back of the king's skull. He dropped like a stone, unable to comprehend what just happened as his eyes rolled back and fall over dead in a puddle of his own blood. That, and he now smelled nasty as the swordsman nearly threw up at the stench.

"Was that really needed? I was enjoying myself for once against a strong opponent."

"Hmmph, get over it. Apparently this guy is the one the boss sent us to find."

"Is that right?" A echoing voice said, as part of the right wall simply melted down by red liquid, then rehardened as soon as it was only a few inches from reaching the floor. The man with the Eskimo parka stood in front of the hole, palm extended in order to touch it. "**Arctic Burnout**." He chuckled, as he carefully stepped over the entrance, followed by the large man who currently was covered with more scars and blood of various types. He was covered in hot lead from a soldier dumping it on him from the roof, but didn't seem to mind it at all as it slowly cooled around his body.

"Let's see...that raises me 50 extra soldiers that attacked us inside the castle, awhile you only managed to kill 31. Guess you're buying donuts, my dear friend." The eskimo said, turning halfway with a crude smirk. "I thought it was funny that I got a bath on the way over. We must ask the boss to install a shower full of that stuff for me."

"That's because you filled the hallway up and turned them to ash! Besides, no way am I making a shower that spews hot lead! I might accidentally use it and lose most of my body!" The brute growled, feeling a bit light-headed from the heat the man was giving off.

"Guys, this is our contact. And...ewww..." The woman was about to introduce the boy when he began to peel the skin right off his face. Only to reveal that there was another face behind it, with flushed cheeks, a noble nose, a split uni-brow and even lighter blue hair with a ponytail. His eyes were full of malice and craved demolition of some sort.

Without much care, the person threw the mask away as if it was a dust rag, which landed in front of the swordsman's feet. The man raised an eyebrow, noting that it was indeed made of flesh, but there was yarn thread sewn into it, making a small washcloth design around the back of the mask.

"Now...before I give my name to you lot, the only one I recognize is **Mello Josephine**, due to the 37 million bounty on her head. So if you could, identify yourselves or I'll 'ask for help'." The unknown person said, grinning a cruel smile as four shadowy figures watched from a nearby balcony, unseen and unheard.

"Hmmph, whatever help you have, it won't work against the South Point of Demolition, **Gus Pantero**, shipwright with a bounty of 56 million!" The brute laughed mockingly, ready to send the guy flying.

"Nor will anyone defeat the East Point of Solitude, the First Mate **Uesugi Hajime**, with a 43 million Bounty and a long list of defeated sword dojos in the East Blue!" The swordsman in the kmono said, ready to draw his blade again.

"**Mello Josephine**, at your service, the Western Point of Reliability and Navigator to the Winds. Why our boss wants you, I have no idea." The woman said, already going to powerhouse form.

"And I am **Samuel Del Cord**, the North Point of Endurance as well as doctor, with a 120 million bounty and several destroyed islands on record." The man in the Eskimo said, bowing politely.

"And together we are...the **Tenken Pirates**!" The four said, drawing their blades and pointing it towards the stranger.

The man raised an eye, looking around in a puzzled state. "Your boss? I don't see him."

"He usually takes his time, the slowpoke. Last I saw him, he was beating the crud out of the Ovan king and told use that he would catch up." Samuel frowned, folding his arms in annoyance.

"Well since you interrupted my plan to get in with a disguise and start stealing the treasury a bit at a time, I suppose I have to punish you." The man said, raising his arms calmly towards the ceiling.

"Whoa, now! We are only here to get directions, since our last contact told us where to find you. After all, you are that last remaining survivor rumored to see a fabled island in the sky-" Gus grumbled, only to feel an intense killing glare fixated upon him.

"Who...told...you...that? I suppose that I'll kill you guys slow and painful instead of fast and relentless now that you know my secret. After all, I want to know who else knows of my plunder that almost worked if it wasn't for that annoying ball guy!!!!!" The man snarled, as he waved his arms downwards to signal.

WHOOOSH! WHOOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOOSH! The four shadowy figures crashed down immediately, knocking Mello and Samuel back on their butts as the ground shook hard upon impact. A 3 foot deep crater about 15 ft in length was the result of the fall, as the four lumbered out, their chainmail armor clinking heavily yet seemed lighter than a normal human sounded wearing it.

One was armed with a rusted halberd, the other twin crossbows with numerous purple tipped arrows, the third with a drill lance and the last was utilizing a giant wrecking ball with a diamond chain. Only their heads were unarmored, but the weird part was that the faces had no ears, no hair, no teeth, no normal human face to identify with. Instead, the head looked like a inflated white sock balloon with brown marker drawn circles for eyes and a thin drawn line for a mouth. They were filled with cotton and hand-made by threads keeping them together.

"Mannequins? You've gotta be pulling my leg here! They have to be more actors in disguise." Gus growled, only to be held back by Samuel's smoking arm.

"Not yet, Gus. If my senses are right, then those are actually living dolls. The body frame inside the armor is too smooth for a normal human to possess. Besides, you have less than an hour left." Samuel said calmly and quietly, looking straight at the man.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Name is **Bason Knox**, a former thief with a 67 million bounty. And these guys are my **Cloth Knights**, thanks to my Devil Fruit ability." Bason said, revealing his name with a smirk as he knew those four were about to die rather quickly.

'So he's one of the few that obtained a rare Devil Fruit dictionary. No wonder he recognized my form so fast. Those things are hard to come by ever since Ohara, the island publisher of those books, was destroyed. Since then, Cipher Pol had been sent to 'collect' the books by any means needed, even if it meant killing the rich and powerful.' Mello thought, recombining the long blades together. 'He must hold the **cloth cloth** power, paramecia-type. By taking a patch off his clothing and infusing it into a cloth object like a shirt, he can bring it to life for a short time.'

"If you guys want to go to Sky Island so much, I'll send you there as corpses! ATTACK!" Bason roared, as the four shot straight at the sword masters at speeds beyond human ability.

Uesugi was the first one to be attacked, as the massive maced ball shot out like a missile towards him, which he swerved out of the way. Only for it to turn in mid-air by the dummy shifting the chain hard. 'Fast!' He attempted to quick draw and thrust, but another flick of the hand jerked the mace ball upwards over his katana and struck him hard in the face. He was sent off his feet and into the next 5 walls, each one more painful than the next.

Mello, on the other hand, was keeping up with the halberd user, in which they bounded off the walls jumping at each other and slashing hard. Her antlers protected her head from the downwards slashes, then repeatedly stabbed at the armor to cause some cotton to flow out slowly. However, she did have trouble with the constant maneuvering as the dummy could easily move 1080 degrees in all directions, like a yoga expert with no bones or spine. She took a blow to the shoulder, but that just increased her rage as she blitzed her opponent with fiercer strikes.

Samuel was getting annoyed, being the one fighting off the drill lance, as it seemed to be resistant to his devil fruit yet kept poking holes in his body. Those holes were quickly filled in by red goop which seemed to smoke. The Urumi he used was too damaged during the earlier battle since one of the knight actors managed to cleave through a fair chunk of it, so he reverted one of his hands into a blood-red saber made of burning liquid. "**Tundra Lampshade**..." He smirked, fighting back despite the drill lance cutting right through him and into him. However, unlike the others, he was the slowest and thus had difficulty with the living doll's instanteous movement and light-weight speed. That in turn made it harder for him to move in closer and simply melt the dummy into a pile of mush.

But of all of them, Gus was the one losing the most blood as 23 arrows were driven into his chest, 7 arrows in his right arm, 13 on his left, 9 on his right leg and 31 on his back and butt. All within a period of 5 minutes, in which he was frantically chasing the agile dummy only to get shot over and over in different areas. 'This isn't good...I can't freeze it since it has no real eyes, nor can I freeze the guy controlling it since the dummy would block my sight moving towards me. Worse, the arrows aren't like swords, so I can't nullify the pain and cut off blood flow for the time being.' 24 arrows flew in multiple directions around him, only 9 made it through the fierce swiping of his **Kodachi Sphere Defense** technique. He groaned, then charged again, plowing through a stone pillar to knock his opponent off the wall, only for it to hop on his head like a spring board, twist it's torso 180 degrees, reload several more arrows which were hidden inside of it's cotton body and then rapidly fired with low accuracy upon him searching for a weak spot.

'Interesting...a samurai with the skill of a **Gatotsu** master who can quickly change his position into other forms of offense when driven back in order to adapt. A woman with a unique double-edged fin blade with the power of the rare Jacklope's defense antlers and high speed/jumping ability. The muscle man must be using a peculiar ki dampener to lessen the blows and cut back blood flow, poison arrows may work later, but from what I read on their lips, he may have a time limit to how long the dampener takes effect so a continuous peppering of arrows will work just as good. Finally, the last one in the fur coat bothers me. No doubt he has the **Magma Magma** Logia fruit, but he is not using it to to the full potential, perhaps he doesn't want to hurt his nakama? Curious that these four separate people with conflicting personalities would be part of a pirate crew.' Bason thought, sitting on the throne now that he had declared his warriors to attack. No need for him to get involved, he had a dozen Mannequins in various parts of the castle inside suits of armor, unactivated as each one had a patch of his clothes knitted in, so that when the time comes, a small amount of ki would give it 'temporary life'.

'Anyways, it don't concern me. They'll be dead and I'll loot the treasury of it's 47 million berri total. It was a piece of cake to kidnap the kid from his bodyguards, kill him, made a latex mask and skin of fine silk thread by ripping his off, applied it to my face and body, had two of my 'men' act as non-speaking bodyguards escort me back, and I simply stated I had amnesia and the fool of a king fell for it hook, line and sinker.' Bason grinned, as the battles continued fiercely as man and living dolls fought hard to kill the other. "Since I can only control 4 at a time, overwhelming the vast amounts of guards would take stealth and patience but these fools cleared the numbers in less than half a day. I'd hate to see what kind of captain they take orders from but-"

"But what?" Bason's train of thought was cut off by a smooth yet shallow voice behind him, as he slowly jumped forward just as the throne was cleaved in half vertically as easily as scissors through wrapping paper.

'Fast! I was barely to sense anything emitting from him, his mastery of killing ki must have been suppressed heavily to make it so I wouldn't detect him.' Bason thought, looking at the 6'3" blond and white haired man in dark spiked armor, his eyes covered over by a partly red blindfold holding back blood. His sword was 4 foot in length, 2 foot in width, sharpened on both sides, and had strange green 'veins' protuding from the center, a red gem with a human eyeball encased inside. The sword seemed to be radiating with a heavy black aura, possibly a cursed sword.

'That's not one of the Grade Swords...what kind of sword is that that requires a human eyeball?' Bason wondered as the warrior silently finished splitting the throne as easily as candle wax, letting the two halves fall to each side. He then walked down the stairs just as Bason retrieved the king's prized sword out of his cold, dead hand. He took a offensive leap stance, bending both knees since as long as the one in armor had the high ground, a frontal attack would have no effect. He then sprung up. then spun in place over the opponent to deliver a buzz-saw slash, only for the large sword to move upwards to block it, sparks flying between them.

Landing softly, he parried a heavy left slash which nearly took out one of the stairs, then quickly avoided multiple swipes. His cheek was grazed by a lucky swing falling back a bit, then rolled out of the way of a heavy thrust which destroyed a fair section of the throne room. 'Impossible! How heavy is that thing?' Bason wondered, seeing that the blade he was using was already getting worn out, as small shards broke off it.

"Disappointing..." The man in the armor said coldly, as Bason once again dodged a fierce heavy blow which destroyed a portion of floor. "**Legionnaire Spread**!" Without warning, 3 dozen normal swords appeared from nowhere and went towards Bason, who quickly began to counter to it with random hits. However, one of them cut his left leg passing by, cutting his speed severely.

The swords embedded themselves in the floor and wall, as the armored man seemed irriated at best. "Is that all? For someone to have survived Skypeia, you sure don't act like it." He muttered as he tore part of the floor dragging his sword along. "**Vertigo Eyemeld**." Bason felt dizzy all of a sudden, but now realized that the room had swirled into a odd vortex. The armored man looked like a bad opaque painting, his body stretched out in an odd manner. He leapted at the man, only to 'pass' through him as his opponent had side-stepped him.

"**Farsight Eyemeld**." That seemed like mere inches now extended to a hundred miles below as Bason gasped out in shock falling downwards. It didn't matter the actual distance of how far he dropped, it felt like he was free-falling out of a cloud into the ground below, screaming out in shock as he did so. 3 seconds turned into 30 agonizing minutes for him of terror, as he finally face-planted into the stone wall. 'The 5 eyemelds have little effect on this one after all...quite odd.'

"THAT DOES IT! I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, BUT THAT SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH!** CLOTH BOMBWRAP**!" Bason yelled, still twitching as he got up with a frenzied look on his face. The dummies that fought the others leapt towards them, wrapping their boneless arms and legs around tightly to prevent them from escaping. Even Gus can't make the mannequin get off as his arm joints were feeling weaker from blood loss. "Detonate!" Each of the cloth dummies felt the ki inside of them expand outwards, consuming the mental construct of energy, then exploded into a large fireball that sent the others flying through the walls heavily burnt and drained of killing energy for the time being.

"Now! For the piece of resistance!" Waving his arms forward, the rugs and the banners began to rise upwards and 'crawled' towards them. "**Cloth Carpet Anaconda**!" Due to the small patch of his clothing sewn into each of the carpets and banners, then activating it with ki, he could easily take control of them to a limited extent. However, since they were currently wrapping around each of the pirates save for the armored warrior, it would prevent them from breaking out too easily. After all, the rugs and carpet were designed to last for centuries without getting ruined or torn, and the more that were added to constrict movement, the easier it would be to simply crush their bones to dust.

"With them out of the way, I can kill ya in a heartbeat! You guys don't deserve to go to the Sky Island!" Bason chuckled as numerous rugs and carpets started to roll into each other, reforming and hardening into a tube-like form. More and more tubes were created, slowly attaching by fusing their threads together with conscious sewing of itself. "This is only a fraction of what the people at that place can do to you! To go back is suicide! **Cloth Rattler Strike**!!!" The head was made of banners, and shaped like a cobra with a pair of the dead king's pants acting as the teeth.

"I have no fear of those stronger than me, nor do I care." The armored man said quietly, as the cobra rushed at him sliding on it's colossal body as he destroyed more of the wall. He walked past it, losing his left arm in the process as his shoulder was now a bleeding stump. His sword's aura increased, sensing the extreme bloodlust as he plunged his sword into the hide as it went past, undisturbed in the least. "The world revolves around the weak, that is how it always has been." Withdrawing the blade, he walked patiently as the giant carpet serpent combusted, the ki heavily damaged from the cut dealt to it.

"For me, your moves were carefully calcuated. My blade, Souru Ejji or should I say "**Nercofain**" is a blade that can stand on par with the Grade Swords, as I had made it myself with the power of the Ebon Eye." The armored man said, dragging the long blade deeper and deeper into the floor walking forward, as if it was made of swiss cheese. "You shouldn't threaten my crew and attack them. Now I have to get serious."

He vanished, then reappeared behind Bason to deliver a kick to the butt, then blocked an overhead swipe and then a frontal barrage of slashes as Bason turned to face him. More stones were turned to rubble as they fought, the sunlight already coming in through the holes made.

"Mello! Get Gus to the darkness of the shade!" The man said, just as Mello regained consciousness. She nodded upon hearing this, shrinking back into human form and slipped out quickly within the few seconds before the carpets began to squeeze tighter to prevent escape. Morphing for full animal form, since her clothes were elastic, she jumped over to Gus's prone form and grabbed his shirt with her teeth, dragging his heavy body away from the sunlight.

"Is he one of the shadow-less people I've heard rumors about?" Bason sneered, blocking and thrusting a few times.

"That's none of your concern." The man said, as he backed up a bit as a dozen or more swords appeared as he slashed at air, and they fired towards Bason, who nimbly blocked most of them, save for one in the shoulder.

'Where are all those swords coming from?' Bason thought, trying to dislodge the sword and unaware of the speed the man now possessed.

"I am a sword." The man said, as he took advantage of Bason's confusion to quickly smack him hard in the face with a heavy blow on the flat side. Naturally, upon him falling to the floor, the carpets and rugs released their grip and slinked apart. Out of one of his sleeves, a map of some sort and a Eternal Pose popped out on the floor.

"Ah! That was a good nap de gozaru! Good job taking out the punk, Nocturne!" Uesugi said, stretching and yawning as he stumbled out of the wrappings that nearly crushed him to death.

Nocturne nodded, his aura had calmed down considerably as the swords vanished, turning into streams of smoke that were absorbed back into Necrofain. The veins pulsed each time a sword was absorbed, as well as the sword that Bason was using against it. "Almost there...soon I'll have enough strength to absorb the Grade Swords completely."

"What should we do about the kid, boss? Oh, and sorry about the river of lava. I really had a problem finding the toilet." Samuel bowed, as he melted away the last of the fireproof, thick rugs that binded him.

"No problem, it gave Necrofain a chance to test the long range abilities to create a bridge of swords for me to cross." Nocturne said calmly, as he resteathed the large blade on his back. "Is Gus okay?"

"I will tend to him in a moment. Uesugi, the Boss's arm is over by that stack of shields, retrieve it. After all, it will take me a bit to cool down before I can touch anything metal."

Useugi nodded, somewhat annoyed but unwilling to be turned into ashes with a flick of Samuel's hands. He walked over to the pile and dug through it carefully until he found the severed arm which was currently moving on it's own. To say the least, the fact that it was flexing the elbow and moving it's fingers was creepy and it wasn't bleeding either, unlike the steady flow of blood coming out of Nocturne's stump.

'The price of a **Wraith** is a dangerous one.' Nocturne thought, as the swordsman ran over with the arm that began to slap him a few times in order to remove his cold hands from it. Useugi felt a bit grossed-out, but carefully brought it over to Nocturne and slowly re-inserted the arm joint back into the shoulder. Not that it did anything, as it was still unattached, and now 'punched' Uesugi a few times unsuccessfully due to quick reflexes.

"Could really need your help right about now, Doctor!"

"Hang on, hang on. Sheesh. Blasted hawk." Samuel muttered, as the last bit of volcanic heat was stilled and reabsorbed back into his body. Digging into his coat with his left glove, he pulled out a silver hook sword and bounced merrily towards the captain, before slashing down hard on the disconnected yet movable arm joint. "**Modoshi Giri**!" Somehow within a few seconds in-between, it had looked as if the sword hadn't even touched the arm at all, 'passing through' it like a ghost with a white aura around it.

Nocturne grinned, as the arm once again was under his control, moving each individual finger curling into a fist. "Excellent. All **Yami **emissions have been cleansed. Good work doctor."

"Heh, whatever. Of course now my blade is wrecked just touching that nasty flesh of yours. And I have to go to the bathroom again." Samuel muttered, flipping the finger as he stomped off to find a place to do his business.

"Gus has been detained in a slitless locker, boss." Mello said calmly in her animal form, as she carried a rather large metal locker designed to hold the costumes in. Although no light could come in, it still had air inside to last for hours on end.

"Good, good. You will find the Eternal Pose on the ground next to the boy. Uesugi, tie him up with metal cables, since he could probably manipulate the 'cloth' strings of a normal rope. He'll be our inside guide as soon as we reach the Sky Island for the ransacking and pillaging, either by force or manipulation, I don't care."

WHOOOSH! The left outer wall crumbled and melted away, as Samuel bellowed out painfully in a voice that shook the castle, "IT BURNS!!!!!!!!!!"

The other three sweatdropped, embarrassed by their strongest member's 'gotta go' problem. After all, every time he accesses that power, he instantly needs to go immediately. Many a small island appeared because of this weird ability.

"And you're absolutely sure that the Sky Island exists, even though it's nothing but a myth, de gozaru?" Uesugi asked, raising an eyebrow in question. He knew that soon the entire island will be overflooded by magma as soon as they were at sea, then the crew would retrieve Samuel after he was finished. He knew that Nocturne had already absorbed the barrels of swords laying out, as he recognized some of those that he shot at Bason.

"A myth?" Nocturne's aura turned into a intense killing ki that could blacken the hearts of men, as Uesugi would swear that a strange figure was behind him. It was thin, bony and had long black hair covering most of it's face, with pure white skin and wearing a tattered purple cloak. But it showed a robin egg-colored eye that was so brilliant that it could oversee the passage of the world. "My friend, my existence alone is a myth."

"From what I gather from the notes and the Log, it is known as the **High Summit of West End,** a dangerous, suicidal area where many men have been killed recently dropping out of the sky. However, the aerial addition I added to the **Greysword** should be able to get up into the clouds. With my excellent navigation skills, we should be able to arrive there approximately within 4 days. It also says there's a massive Berri toll to reach the city, but luckily I already bagged up the treasures that could pay for it." Mello said, shifting slowly to powerhouse form in order to point at the large sacks.

"A small price to pay for the giant treasure awaiting us." Gus's voice said within the locker, fully awake and cocky.

"Rumored items that can store and unleash vast amounts of different powers, which in total would sell for hundreds of millions of berri on the black market." Samuel said in-between gasping and screaming doing his business outside.

"Plus superweapons that we can install on the Greysword that could easily get us higher bounties throughout the world, plus seeing the ground in a way that I can make dozens of maps just by looking down." Mello grinned ear-to-ear, a natural navigator.

"Well, then. We will discuss our plans when we get back to the Greysword. Let's go, Tenken pirates!" Nocturne said calmly, swirling his cape as he turned and walked towards the slowly collapsing exit. His crew cheered happily behind him, Uesugi carrying Bason on his back slightly more annoyed than usual. 'For soon, I will gain a sword that is rumored to be as powerful as the Supreme Grade swords...then not even the privateers can stop me!'

'And we will all win in the end!' The rest of the crew thought proudly as the sun rose upwards, illumining their auras with a comforting yellow glow as they set out to the ship, save Samuel who was currently zipping up his fly and giving chase.

"Guys! Wait up! Ow, it's hot! Hot! Hot!"

* * *

**Spring Island**-A area on the Grand Line where crops grow well and where rainfall happens most of the time. Most Spring Islands are sloped though, preventing flooding. 

**Sven Army**-The protagonist 'good guy' knights who can do no wrong.

**Ovan Army**-Dastardly evil knights who ransack a ghost town twice a week for the benefit of tourism.

**Kodachi**-A short, light katana meant for defense. Can even block bullets and large heavy melee weapons. With two, there are only a few weak spots.

**Shin No Ippo**-A paralyzation technique that can render those with weak fighting ability to stay frozen on the spot. However, it can also be used on the user to make him temporary immune to heavy cuts with a sword. However, it only works within a certain time limit of 4 hours and when that ends, the cuts are then re-opened painfully. It also causes the skin to break out in rashes if exposed to sunlight for a while.

**Sweeper Plunge**-A brutal attack to skewer and annihilate troops in multiple directions. Mostly used on bounty hunters with Devil Fruits.

**Thrasher Toss**- A accurate throw of his the kodachi which could send his victims far off and leaving a trail of blood in their wake.

**Winter Breeze**: Samuel likes to name his attacks into 'cold standards' to trick others, even though it comes with a steep price a few minutes afterward. This is a hand attack that cremates those on contact, but with a dire consquence.

**Urumi**-A snake sword that is thin yet fast, moves so silently it can cut down rows of opponents. However, it is fragile to heavy swords.

**Nodachi**-A long katana made to slice people down the middle, very sharp and thick.

**Asper**: Samuel's Urumi, one of his treasured possessions. He can carry up to 3 weapons on his person, containing them in scabbards which are immune to magma heat.

**Running Pounce**-A speed technique that amplifies jumping ability, can also be used to deliver a dozen powerful kicks or slashes downward on a opponent. However, she does to tend to overleap and crash into the ceiling by accident.

**Ishiki Shukuchi**-First Narrowed Earth slash, a high speed move to make yourself disappear and reappear with a high burst of momentum, capable of blowing opponents away.

**Zero Point Stance**-The strongest of Gatotsu moves, from point A to B, it thrusts and severely damages the opponent as soon as one blinks.

**Clodhopper Snapkick**-Capable of breaking boulders, but not heavy doors. Can be repetitive and painful to strong melee fighters.

**Hare Hare Jacklope**-A rare devil fruit that gives the user the speed and defense of the Jacklope, a rabbit with antlers that can break up to 45 mph.

**Arctic Burnout**-A massive ball of lava spews out a thick stream to melt anything in it's way, but is controlled as to avoid burning anything precious.

**Uesugi Hajime**-A Gatotsu user who adapts with foresight and predicts enemy movement, his body is based on speed as to inflict heavy explosive thrusts to destroy others. His dream is to create a large dojo with him as grandmaster, in which the use of all swords but his and his comrades are forbidden world-wide, in which only shinai will be substituted for swordsmen wishing to challenge him. Also a infamous dojo killer. 23 years old.

**Samuel Del Cord**: A somewhat retired pirate who was 'convinced' by Nocturne to join his crew of misfits. Due to his Magma Magma power, he suffers a severe case of diarrhea and desperately goes to find a toilet, only to melt it and the rest of the building. That is why he prefers to be a sword collector, but hates reattaching Nocturne's limbs as the oily, greasy skin later breaks it apart. his dream is to find a cure for his problem so he can use his power fully and not feel so much pain and suffering.

**Mello Josephine**-17 years. Uses a combination of kicks and fast strikes with her double-fin blade. Can't stand to be in closed spaces or being trapped. Dream: To win Nocturne's heart by any means needed. marry him and have a family together.

**Gus Pantaro**-One of the strongest fighters in the south with a nasty attitude, he uses his power to freeze unworthy opponents weaker than him and tear into them. However, his power only works for 4 hours, and in sunlight, the sword wounds would burn heavily unless covered over or healed quickly. 20 years old. Dream: To create environmental laws that the world will abide by for generations to come, as he is intuned with nature and once lived on a glacier that slowly melted due to global warming.

**Tenken Pirates**-Tenken means "Heavenly Sword". Their flag is a Jolly Roger with a purple hood, and a sword stabbing through horizon ally. They are well known for pillaging villages for swords and nothing else, as they get gold from outside sources.

**Bason Knox-**Small-time thief who uses his 'dolls' to do the dirty work for him, not much of a fighter but uses dirty fighting tactics when armed with a sword. 14 years old. Can even assimilate skin by sewing thread into it and inserting some energy to manipulate it. His dream is to stay alive long enough to gain a crew of his own and plunder islands all over the West Blue for ancient treasures.

**Cloth Knights**-Inanimate sewn dolls brought to life by sharing ki. Each has a unique weapon that can deal dangerous damage depending on the opponent. Their chainmail is light, meaning they can't feel pain or know if they are injured, as well as move quickly and jump high. However, fire or sharp objects can keep them at bay for a while. The fact that they can carry heavy weapons is because of the energy that is inside of them, providing 'muscle' and preventing instant tears in the fabric each time the weapon is utilized.

**Tundra Lampshade**-Or otherwise a 'lava lamp", due to the shape of the blade. Melee type, very hot and could melt flesh but not metal.

**Cloth Cloth fruit**-Instills lifeforce by patching a small amount of ki into a piece of cloth on a items made of cloth, but the user does not gain any other abilities.

**Kodachi Sphere Defense**-A all-around slashing of quick movement that takes a ball-form around him. Effective only against projectiles.

**Gatotsu**-The power of a heavy thrust held by a adaptable swordsman, who can shift to 4 different stances of combat.

**Legionnaire Spread**-Necrofain's deadly long-range attack. Can send dozens or even a hundred of normal swords at high speeds, each guided by the eyeball's command to target body parts or a specific area. However, it does leave it's user wide open for a attack for a few seconds when fired off.

**Vertigo Eyemeld**: Makes the opponent dizzy, as well as the user casting it.

**Farsight Eyemeld**-Causes the distance to widen to a large extent for both user and victim, like using binoculars on the wrong side, making a illusion of large distances.

**Eyemeld Power**: Besides Dark Wave which controlled the knights to slaughter the village by way of 'mental illusion', there are 5 types that work with the Ebon Eye. Farsight, nearsight (shortens range of view like a car mirror), blurry sight (like in cases when you really need contacts or glasses), vertigo sight and squiggle sight (the spots in your eyes when looking at a light, only a lot of them appear). However, this in turn also effects the user, making it only used as a distraction for a short amount of time before both can attack again.

**Clothwrap Bomb**-A powerful detonation that is made out of destructive energy at point blank range, very difficult to avoid when wrapped around tightly.

**Cloth Carpet Anaconda**-The carpets can also fly btw, but they can constrict their victims in large numbers. Even paramecia types are helpless against a large amount of carpets that would slowly consume their strength.

**Cloth Rattler Strike**-A powerful summon made of carpets and banners, sharing a large source of energy to combine. Because of this, the summon cannot be destroyed or defeated unless the energy is damaged internally.

**Necrofain**-Created by the ability of a Wraith, it has the ability to absorb normal swords and use them to increase it's physical power and overall destruction of a large area of effect. However, when it runs out of swords, it becomes weak and shatters apart, making it hard to repair unless more swords are scarified to it. If fed a certain amount of swords as the contract is done between it and the swordsman who wields it, it can permanently absorb and gain the attributes of the lesser Grade Swords, but will be unable to fire them like projectiles.

**Wraith**-A being that sees the beyond as a half human, half ghost. However, in Nocturne's case, he is merely a host for one as according to family tradition, as he provides a voice and hands to weild a sword, and the wraith gives the host the Ebon Eye and expert blacksmith ability. However, it comes with a price. Any body part cut off will become a separate host for the Wraith to control, leaving the true host without a wraith unable to see with the Ebon Eye, making them blind and powerless. Even if the head is cut off, the body will still operate until it dies of blood loss, sorta like a headless horseman.

**Yami Emissions**-The threads that a Wraith is tied to, for if the body part is cut off, it would not bleed, but the host would bleed instead. Even the thumb can move on it's own and not bleed because of this.

**Modoshi Giri**-Reversing cut. Unfortunately, this is the only thing that makes Samuel a doctor. But it does cause cuts and severed limbs to repair themselves within a few minutes depending on the injury.

**Greysword**: A carrack class ship with multiple sails, colored gray all over with a large zanbatou as the mast. It also has several gun platforms which can fire off bladed cannonballs, a kitchen, barracks, lookout point, large parachutes for thermal/wave control, iron paneling on the sides to reflect cannon fire and separate rooms to work on swordsman tactics and fighting styles.

* * *

Drode: If you got all the way down here, congrats! You have been picked as one of the lucky 3 or more to run a unique One Piece forum as a Mod! Since less than 2 usually read this fanfic, this prize is designed to find those with talent! Impose your own rules, be your own boss and role play the way you want! The forums can be found on Super Hurricane's profile, all you have to do is post and you earn unlimited power. You have never seen forums like this, ever! So come on over! 

---Next Arc: The Flamin' Belly of the Beast, it's a Mad House I tell ya!---


	15. Land of Coral Arc: Blaze of Destruction!

Drode: (rubs head in frustration) Okay, I am glad that this bastard author's fic actually made the 245 hit mark. However, the prize had not been claimed at all. Is it really that hard for people to just go to "Super Hurricane's" profile and click on the "My Forums"? I know that some of you like One Piece, but the way things are right now, the other One Piece forums look like the ones during the Great Author/Flamer war 7 years ago. His forums are a mixture with extra class into them, insuring that anyone with imagination can create the ultimate pirate crew. So if you are interested, join the revolution! (falls back asleep)

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but I wish I understood how a Paw Paw fruit can teleport people. Does Kuma have ANY weakness at all?

* * *

Ch 15 

"A waffle without flour is a pancake with holes, so when making one, always add the broken egg shell to make it solid."

The air was full of sweat and gunpowder clouds of smoke, as the call to cease firing came from the top officials. Men, all physically fit and in their late 20s, were reloading their ammunition magazines in the thick fog of smoke as they took cover behind crates, barrels, the stairwell, any place they could find. Each was wearing a thick bulletproof vest, a black helmet with a heat-sensory visor, gray pads on their arms and legs, heavy metal boots and wore black jogging pants and a shirt to blend in with the darkness. The walls were littered with bullets of various caliber and piercing power, as well as thick dents made by grape shot bazookas. On the floor, several of them were convulsing with foam spewing out of their mouths and speaking absolute gibberish.

The lights were already dead, as some of the bullets ricocheted around the room. The vault door itself that the men were supposed to keep closed was slowly being pried off it's hinges inch by inch by a powerful shove. For each time it was pushed, the room shuddered a bit on impact. Despite this, the bullet barrage failed to prevent the person on the other side from pushing further.

On the top balcony overlooking the Vault Room, two men watched eagerly with a matching grin on their faces, wondering what will happen next. One was a 4'9" old man with a fat head and a thin body, his eyes looked droopy and sad even as he ate from a large plate of cherry-flavored flan, making him tear up with joy on eating each bite.

The other person was a tall man who seemed to have half his body in the shade of darkness, but it looked like he was wearing a white lab coat, striped blue jeans and white bunny slippers. His strict green eyes scanned the room using his tinted glasses, observing the way that the heavy vault door was breaking down as pointed cord-like objects pierced through somehow.

"My, my...even the **Genova Corps** are having trouble. That man we found sure likes to make a a nuisance of himself." The fat head said, tearing up from another bite.

"Indeed, his battle skills are beyond that of that **Commando **we sent in. Has his corpse been retrieved yet?" The lab coat asked, his glasses gleaming.

"Truthfully he's not dead yet, but he seems to taken a severe wound or two. That's what we get for hiring idiot mercenaries." The fat head stated, then looked down at the ground floor. "Looks like this is going to get intense."

WHOOOOSH! "Get out of the way!" called out one of the soldiers as the large vault door fell down quickly with a sickening thud, crushing a bunch of soldiers into a bloody paste. Before any of them could react, a crouching figure jumped to the right of it and rushed the approaching men before they could aim. Long, blood red spinal tendrils on it's back shot outwards by self-extension, slicing and impaling those daring to get close as the person breathed heavily through a welded metal mask resembling a wolf. In a way, the person looked similar to Blackheart, but not as muscular or tall, but it's body was lean and fit enough to bench press a few hundred pounds.

Even as it was struck by bullets, the unknown person didn't falter or lose it's ground. In fact, it seemed as if the bullets were annoying it, bouncing off the blubbery red striped skin that seemed to blend well with the darkness. Even so, some of the bullets broke off a tendril spine, causing some blood to leak out onto the floor, and the spine itself embedded into a cannon specialist's chest, causing him to choke on his own saliva.

"Evade it, you fools!" The lab coat ordered, as a bullet landing nearby sparked the blood, igniting it into a stream of fire. Men shouted out as the flames consumed them, burning their flesh and bodies as the person howled gruffly through the mask.

"MGGAHST AYSYD JDHEH!" It yelled out, as a new spinal tendril emerged in the sliced one's place, then grew multiple spinal tendrils around it's right arm to form a drill-like weapon. Running through the fire, it roared striking down any soldier firing at it awhile crashing into the walls a few times due to the mask's ability to cut down visibility.

A Gatling gun manned by a soldier behind a crate pummeled him, increasing his anger level as the bullet hail bombarded him with each impact pushing it back through the vault entrance. Widening the 'drill' into a umbrella-like shield, he charged in with a blazing trail of blood behind him quickly despite the bullets being shot on either side of him, bashing the gunman's skull into the ground and then twisting the Gatling gun into a pretzel-like shape with it's thin clawed hands.

"FRUC HAYE EUIEUR!! HUB IEUE JABU!" The creature bellowed, as now swords were plunged into it's back, causing the tendril spines to go wild like whips slapping down to tear the humans apart. Plunging into the unguarded fabric, soldiers left and right fainted a few minutes later trying to attack him up close or were burned by the puddles of flammable blood. Yet for all it's effort, the soldiers continued to pour in through different entrances to shower him with more bullets and cut him with their swords, damaging him a little bit each time.

5 minutes later, the person was on the floor, knocked out with a large bump on the noggin and currently low on blood supplies. As much as the soldiers wanted to slaughter the jerk for killing their comrades, the ones on the balcony had ordered him back through the vault door into his room. The one who done the man in, was a lanky 5'6 man with skinny arms and legs, wearing a one piece purple leotard with dark blue stripes zigzagged around the torso, his hair was silvery white sleeked back by a ton of hair gel and holding a 8 foot bo staff.

"Guy wasn't so tough..." The silver haired man said snidely, lighting up a cigar to enjoy his victory.

That was when a bucket of water drenched him at the same time from one of the soldiers, as all of them shouted as one voice towards him, "NO SMOKING IN THE HOSPITAL!!!!!"

-The Present Day, 2 weeks after the defeat of Antoine-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" Aboard the ship of the Gandros Leviathan, there are three steps to tell when life had gone off the deep end.

One, Prelude had returned and had bought two new 6 shot flare gun revolvers, each with spare magazine clips for easy reloading. Two, it was a bright sunny day when the new recruits were to receive a hazing as to prove their worth. Three, Prelude was the one doing the hazing, as the recruit seamen were running screaming for their lives wearing fireproof targets on their chests and back as she chased them down laughing wickedly, firing accurately to strike the target dead-center. If she 'missed', she had permission from the captain to fire a few more rounds, increasing the agony and pure torture on the victims as they wailed out for mercy. Gandyr was on standby with his men to handle those unable to stand the burns.

Alto, on the other hand, was sitting at a table on deck, sipping a Root Beer float that the current chef had made for him. Tasted like foot, but he had no right to complain. Last guy did that ended up with orange skin after being force-fed carrots for a month each hour. Alto grimaced as the same person, who was currently at swabbie rank, mopped the wooden floor in front of him, then went down below to clean the rat nests that popped up after they left Tarmack Island. Alto hated rats for some reason, which is why he ordered for his meals to be brought to him on the upper deck, and had several tables set for luncheons awhile the kitchen was being swept of vermin.

True, he was out of his casts and had a bandage over his right eye, but that was because the ship visited a nearby Navy Base. Naturally, after some homemade brews and the letter containing the big paycheck of a successful delivery of the infamous Antoine, who was locked up behind seastone bars and later sentenced to Impel Down, he managed to contact the Base's Head Doctor Dr. Moot.

Apparently he had managed to make a prototype pill that can reduce the rate of healing, but the problem was that it was the size of a ostrich egg, and that it needed to be shoved up the rump to be effective. So although most of the broken bones and sore muscles slowly repaired themselves, his buttocks were sore for weeks on end. Gladyr handled the burns with lotion from Sea King barnacles, in which the good doctor simply threw a bottle of morphine into the beast's mouth and took what he wanted when the creature got knocked out. The eyepatch was because he complimented on the shortness of a nurse skirt during his stay, and Prelude went ballistic on him a minute afterwards destroying a floor and several rooms in the process.

Requiem was currently plotting the next course in her room, given the coordinates given by a friendly naval captain known as "**Reginna**", but Alto was a bit skeptical about the whole thing.

-Flashback-

6 days ago...

"Okay, everyone. I know that you all have a bone to pick with Prelude, and that's okay, but you have to understand the gravity of the situation. Most of you are raw, skilled and trained navy swabs that may or may not get a rank in the near future. Those who do end up in the Navy Academy for a few years or even 10 years. The point of the invite on this ship is to assess your abilities in battle, as we tend to go to dangerous islands that are far more dangerous than most navy men travel to and fight off pirates with high 9 figure bounties." Alto said, standing on a stool in the auditorium facing the hundreds of confused cadets. He had on a arm cast after Prelude had caught him going into the wrong bathroom, mainly because he didn't have his glasses on.

"To calm her down, she has the buddy system, in which another member handpicked would spar with her. Unfortunately, that person is one of those who rudely left the ship without my permission. As such, she is only 'playing' with you as to blow off stress."

"But we don't like her way of doing that! You're the captain, shouldn't we go and pick up that buddy so she can hurt him or her instead?" A 26 year old sailor asked, with severe burns and a large bump on his right cheek.

"Yeah! She even attacks us when we're sleeping, even putting a latex mask of some unknown girl on us and then blasts us!" A haggard, sleepy 30 year old man with bloodshot eyes and three burn wounds on his back groaned, before slumping to the floor to take a quick nap.

'Great...she has **'that girl'** on the brain again.' Alto thought as he sweatdropped, then tried to quell the rising of angry voices speaking all at once on the retrieval of the certain member. "People, please! The fact that you want that person is far out of the question. Even if we were to retrieve him, his own power would not be in check as our shipwright has yet to be picked up. It may even make things worse as he could destroy the ship."

"Who cares!"

"Just bring him already so that woman will stop hurting us!"

"Is he cute?"

"Hey! Whoever he is, I'm just as cute!"

"You're freaking orange! You're not even considered cute!"

"You're the one who made me like this!"

"I can't feel my legs thanks to her! It hurts when I fall asleep!"

"Bring the guy here so I won't be a target!"

"Come on, people!" Alto groaned, really getting annoyed as he rubbed his face in agony. "What we need back is our cook, am I right?"

A ripe tomato in the face answered his question, as produce was fired in large numbers to bury him several feet under a pile of vegetable produce. A white flag popped up over the top, initiating his surrender. To say the least, there was a 9 hour party throughout the night afterward to celebrate a "Prelude Free Environment" as dancing, drinking and games went on, with Alto locked up in his room covered in tomato juice shivering from the cold, icy gazes that the crew gave him.

-End Flashback-

"The nerve of them, threatening a mutiny just because I just want the cook back. No matter how many times I ask the chef in charge, he never gives me the right Eggplant and Zucchini special like she does." Alto mumbled, lying back as he had now stripped all the way down to his boxers. Some female crew members walked by, lovestruck and gigging happily at the sight of the captain's dignity loss.

"Captain, we are in en route and only 15 minutes from the shoreline. He had detected a large amount of coral overlapping one half of Helix Island, but our lookout had spotted a small wharf town and a harbor. Shall we dock there?"

"Yeah, yeah, just get the giant gift basket and the 1 million paycheck ready. I really hate wharf towns as the fishermen usually take baths once a year." Alto grunted, acknowledging the watchman in charge of lookout point divisions. Getting off the lounge chair, he lazily put back on his uniform in a disorderly fashion, sometimes with his shirt inside out or his pants on the other side.

"All hands on deck!"

"Sir!"

Alto briefly yawned, walking down the formed lines of navy recruits with his strings currently retracted into the fingers. Saluting, he noticed Requiem staring out the port of the ship with a blank expression as Gladyr crept from behind to give her a pat on the butt. Gladyr fell overhead 2 seconds later with a sheer migraine as Requiem prepared the anchor to drop down.

He smirked, feeling comfortable with the routine comedy that was to be expected on the ship, as they soon docked near a batch of fishing boats. Judging from the straw huts and cement buildings, the town was about a minority population-wise, possibly 200 or more. However, the assault mortar cannons lined up on the beach shoreline looked new and smelled of used gunpowder, meaning that they had been used on either Pirates or Sea Kings. There were also cannons placed on ledges on the coral hills surrounding most of the mountain, also giving off faint traces of gunpowder. 'There must have been one huge scramble of artillery low prices to placed in such a undignified manner, maybe brought from the black market? If so, we may be in trouble.'

The heavy 600 lb anchor was dropped down to the bottom of the underwater shoreline and thick knotted ropes were tied by naval recruits around the wooden posts, as both men and woman wearing blue striped clothing gathered around talking and gossiping to themselves pointing and staring at the crew. Strangely, there was no sign of children playing or running in the streets, something that Gladyr noted as a pair of scuba divers in gray leotard retrieved him from the water, using inflated octopus as oxygen masks.

The gangplank dropped down, allowing the crew to go down 5 at a time with either saber or rifle held ceremonious by their side, allowing Alto safe passage as well as his loyal comrades. As usual, Cresendo stayed with the ship, but this time tied up and gagged as about 3 dozen men stood watch with her armed with net launchers.

"What's all this now? We haven't been given word that the Navy had been sent here." A wizen, old man with a heavily wrinkled shar-pei face and a pink mohawk said, slowly walking towards the group of naval offers with a grarled wooden cane. His mouth had several lure hooks punctured into it, as well as 2 on each of his shaved eyebrows. He was wearing the same striped outfit, only it looked haggard and dirty-looking, as if he had been rolling in mud.

"Sorry about the sudden visit, sir. We are merely searching for a lost comrade of ours who was spotted in this region." Prelude said calmly, bowing down as that was what the other villagers were doing. No doubt in her mind that this is basically the leader of the small fishing town.

"Is that so?" The man slightly grinned, rubbing the wide assortment of dried-up skin flaps on his face as if he was brushing a beard, making some of the hardened seamen cringe in disgust. "We've had many people come to our humble town, so you would have to refresh my memory on that."

"Is that right?" Alto said, as 5 crew members came down the gangplank carrying suitcases with steel handcuffs latched to the handle. Snapping his fingers with amusement, he could see the crowd's jaws drop down reacting to the shimmering glow of freshly made Berri bills. "Perhaps this will refresh your memory a bit. In each case, there is 200,000 berri, enough to get a hundred fishing boats which would in turn make your economy flourish for decades on end. Keep in mind that you will only receive them after our comrade is picked up, as the suitcases are booby-trapped to explode if the combination is wrong. So, are you thinking clearly now?"

The old man's eyes sparkled at the glistening crisp paper bills as he clutched his hands in a joyful manner. "If you could show me a picture of the person, I may be able to know."

"Here." Gladyr brought out a grainy black and white photo, used from the same kind of camera that takes bounty pictures, then handed it over to the group. Immediately upon looking at it, the lively color was drained out of their faces in sheer terror, some even wasted their underwear in fear as their legs buckled in fright. Some even ran screaming towards their homes and ducked under their beds, praying to their God for salvation.

"It's that monster!"

"You actually kept that thing with the Navy?!? It ruined our crops!"

"The school was burned down because of it!"

"That thing ate my hunting dog in the middle of the night!"

"It ain't human! Even after several rounds, it won't go down!"

"What the villagers are trying to say is that a few months ago, a tall man covered in seaweed walked out of the water and started to make odd clicking sounds towards us in a language that we couldn't understand. When we shrugged in confusion, it went on a rampage destroying property and when we hunted it with harpoon guns, it went into the Anthozoa Valley and stayed there." The elder said, pointing to the gigantic bulge of purple and pink coral a mile away that resembled a tortoise shell. It looked fairly big, enough to hold 1/16 of the Navy Armada in the West Blue, and smelled like strawberries for some reason, making Alto gag on reflex.

"Is he okay?" The old man asked, somewhat confused by that reaction.

"He's okay, he has a slight problem due to his nostrils being super-sensitive." Gladyr answered, not willing to give any other information than that. The briefcases were then handed over, but still locked, as the exchange was not fully completed.

"If you truly want to regain your friend, I will send my son, **Gregory** to accompany you through the Valley. Only he has managed to reach the other side, as the coral is deadly when touched by human hands." The elder said, putting a pipe to his mouth and lighting it, as a tall blond man in white robes walked towards the group. His blue eyes were frosty, the eyes of an assassin, and on his head was a belt buckle that was tightened to strap in the eagle feathers. He carried a quarterstaff with a 50 pound hammer at the end, the other end was a unlit torch in one hand, and seemed rather relaxed.

"So, these ------ing morons are the that want to go in that hellhole, eh? Gotta tell you ----s that this ain't no trip down the -------ing lane. If any of you even tries to run, I'll blow a hole through your -------ing chest." Gregory snorted, feeling pity for the low rank naval officers and Alto's group as he made a motion for them to follow him. Reluctantly, the group walked with their backpacks fully loaded with food, utensils, weapons of various types, fresh water, etc, grumbling about the fact that they could have walked to that place themselves.

Requiem stayed oddly calm, staring at the bag of iron fillings in her palm as she walked behind Prelude as if it was riddled with disease, her mind completely devoid of thought. To her, the one being picked up was nothing but an eyesore, a weakling who had always attempted to take her life in order to rise in the ranks. The cook was the one who she swore to surpass, but Prelude and that person were low class compared to her.

Prelude, on the other hand, was absolutely giddy with the chance to try out her new flare revolvers on someone who was immune to them. For an hour as the group walked around streets and into the rice fields where the fish would be refrigerated, she gossiped non-stop about boys, clothes, the latest trends, her latest ex-boyfriend, the ship's condition without a shipwright and much more to a steadily angry Gregory who wanted nothing more than to gut her and throw her into the rice ponds.

Alto just felt sick, the sheer smell was torture as it was since some of the surgery had messed with his senses, amplifying them several times over, and he really hated the smell of strawberries to begin with. Now that he thought of it, he could hear a lot better now as well, in which he identify the various voices by sound alone, or identify the songs of the peddlers minding the fields. Not that he was superhuman, it just meant he had no control over it. Gladyr was by his side, searching the heavy backpack for a gas mask so the captain could breathe normally.

"Oy, are you sure you're the captain?" Gregory asked quietly, coming up alongside Alto as Gladyr was distracted.

"Hee hee hee..."

"Technically, yes. Physically, no. I'm just the brains of the outfit, my team supplies everything else." Alto said, shrugging in distain over his miserable, suicidal job. Long hours, little pay, and not a lot of time to beat up pirates, plus tons of paperwork deeply depressed him in the long run.

"Well, I hope you pull your weight, ---hole, because to get to the **Aragonite** Clinic, teamwork might be required." Gregory snarled, his face tightened in rage.

"A clinic? What's so bad about that?"

"Hee hee..."

"You just don't get it do you? That of a hole is one of the main reasons why the fishing industry is suffering lately. Mercenaries, sweepers, big navy people like yourself, they come to this island almost every month for one reason or another, in which my dad sends them to that place. Other islands usually don't take our catch of the day, claiming that it might be cursed. -----ing morons."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Hee hee hee..."

"I'm getting to it, retard. So anyway, no one returns from that place, and I was the only one out of our 400 tribal warriors to make it out of that coral cavern maze. Anyways, the fact of the matter is that despite the appearance that it's a ----hole clinic, it's as big as 4 football fields on top of each other and there's always screaming. You can't hear it because the coral on the inside insulates the noise like a mattress does a fart. People come in but they don't or can't come out. No windows, probably because the sun doesn't shine inside due to the coral's thickness, and no doors either. They even have these weird ------ing monster dogs that ripped my friends apart with teeth alone."

"So what's the problem then?"

"Whoever's in charge of the operation is probably importing diseases or something, stuff so bad that the victims might never want to leave. You think animal testings bad? Try it on a 3 year old kid, unable to beg or scream for mercy. And we're here." Gregory said, stopping a few feet short of the wide open cave mouth, faintly resembling that of a skeleton head with it's jaw dropped. "Those guys also carved this on the cave as well, to scare off intruders. You can feel that high level of evil just looking at it, right?"

"No." The entire crew said, shaking their heads, including Alto who had no idea what he was talking about.

"I can't tell if you're just saying that to be strong or if you're really trying to get on my ing nerves, you pricks. I was going to leave you to die, but apparently you sissies are unaware of the danger inside, so I have to guide you through the gates. You'll understand when we get there." Gregory grunted angrily as he stomped off into the cave entrance, twisting the staff so he could light the torch end for easy viewing. "We have about an hour of light before the torch goes out, so stick close and DON'T touch the coral except for the floor."

"You heard him, men! Don't separate and use the buddy system! I don't care if you have to hold hands, just stay close!" Alto ordered, then turned to Prelude. "And no flare firing until we get inside that Clinic area, understand me? I don't want to be buried alive when you go crazy."

"Hmmpph, whatever...you ain't the boss of my flares." She muttered, walking into the cave behind Gregory, followed by the rest of the crewmen.

'Odd...I thought she was happy making that giggling sound in the back, but she seems more angry than joyful. I sure hope she's feeling okay.' Alto thought, as he untwirled the strings on his fingers to drop down to the floor at full length. Replacing them cost 50 million berri, 1/2 of the paycheck, which bothered him a bit as the price seemed a bit steep. As he walked inside the entrance, he was dazzled by the pink and purple fauna that glistened by torchlight, and bewildered by the sheer size of the cave that seemed to overlap the outside of it.

So bewildered was he that a person was standing on the ceiling above him, looking straight down with beady red eyes, one small with a vertical burn scar, the other eye nearly bulging a inch and a half out. It was wearing a thick straitjacket with numerous belts wrapped around his arms and waist as to prevent the person from breaking out. His stringy blue hair was a mess, yet he seemed clean-shaven and he wore no shoes on his blister-covered feet. But the strangest part about him were the four hooks grafted into his back which were attached to thick leather straps with even larger hooks which allowed him to stand upside-down with a Den-Den Mushi clinging to his left cheek by the application of cement glue.

"Jester to Doctor, do you read me doctor?" The man with the hook piercings said quietly into the snail, watching Alto run towards the group in a panic when he realized they were far ahead of him.

"Yes, I read you, Jester. Is there something wrong?" A grave, low-tone voice said through the snail's mouth.

"The kid has come back sir, just as you said. But the latest batch has come with him."

"Hmm...do you think that they were after 'that'?"

"Too soon to be sure, sir. My men had only sent a **Pelican Express** note to the Navy HQ yesterday, it could be coincidence."

"There's no such thing. With that boy as the guide, reducing their infantry will be difficult, even with the gatekeepers. I want Captain Alto alone, the rest of them are worthless to my research, is that understood?"

"Perfectly, Doctor."

"Good, I want no slip-ups this time. Once the captain is secured, I will give you the opportunity to kill the creature."

"Thank you doctor. I will not let you down. Jester out." The Den Den Mushi turned off as the lunatic shifted his weight to move forward, as two of the hooks were dislodged, then shifted his weight again to take out the remaining two hooks and fell down on the surface. "This is gotta be fun..." He smirked wildly with his moldy green teeth, as he ran up the wall in a straight line despite the fact that it had no ridges or foot holes, avoiding the long barnacle tentacles that popped out screeching for human flesh.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Oy, she's being kinda silent. Go check on her." A senior officer said towards a lowly washer, watching the seagulls outside the ship. Although a additional suitcase of 200,000 berri was added for cooperation, it also provided the ship with extra building materials, wood, cloth yarn, fresh milk, ice, Sea King filets, cow meat, butter, salami and several food products. That meant that the two were the only ones at the jail section of the ship, one cleaning the floor with a mop, the other holding a rifle with musket shells meant to blow large holes into his victims.

"Oh, alright...freaking bastard..." The mop seaman cursed, as he seemed to move 'through' the bars as if he was liquid, then solidified himself on the other side. Oddly, the rifleman didn't seem very disturbed at all, yawning a bit.

So far, several devil fruit users had joined up alongside the new recruits yet they had yet to master the full ability of their power. The rifleman estimated only 5 devil fruit users in 500 seamans actually joined the navy, and only a slim amount actually make it through the academy and onto large ships such as Alto's. So although they made it this far, there was a high fatality rate that the Leviathan carried on it's shoulders due to the inexperience of actual battle.

Carefully the mop user moved closer towards Cresendo, who was currently staring down at the floor as if the cracks in the floor were the most interesting thing in the world. He'd heard only rumors of her, a Berserker from a graduating class of one. Apparently someone shot her to get her out of the class before the ceremony would begin, and that was when the slaughter happened resulting in a massive bloodbath. Yet with her connections, she still graduated and was stuck on this ship for safe-keeping, so that the World Government could function without her rampaging on a national level island to island.

Bonk! Bonk! Two hits to the back of the head didn't seem to wake her up, nor was she growling like she usually did. "Hey, you okay?"

"..." A few drops of red liquid fell from her face onto the floor.

"Blood?" The seaman said puzzled, as he looked closer to see the tag on the long hair. "Hey, does Cresendo wear a wig from Gauzes Hair Industries?"

"Idiot! There's no reason for her to wear a wig, that hair had never been cut since the day she was born." The rifleman barked, thinking the seaman was messing with him.

"Okay then..." Without thinking, he yanked the wig off her head, revealing that Cresendo was a tan, blond girl with short hair. His eyes widened a bit in recognition. "Geeze, Louise!"

"What now?" The rifleman boredly asked, his back to the bars.

"It's Louise Abell from the **Cannon Polisher** squad, I just talked to her 5 hours before we made it to port." The seaman trembled, falling to his feet. Louise was bruised all over, with claw marks on her face and around her neck. "I thought it was strange that she would be in a chair ready to be tied down, but this is too much!"

"Easy, soldier. She couldn't have gotten too far." The rifleman said, thinking that the guy was losing his mind as there was no signs of struggle to begin with.

"Hey, have either of you seen Jameson? The stuff I put in his large knapsack were placed in the crows nest for some reason, and that mallet of mine is missing too." One of the cooks called down the stairs, holding a month's worth of equipment.

"Oh crud!!!!!! Sound the Alarm! The captain should report back immediately!" The rifleman shouted back, now sweating bullets as he put one and two together, realizing what happened.

3 minutes later, the shrill blowhorn screeched out in all directions for the wind to carry it, but it was too late. The coral cavern simply blocked out the noise, and the entrance was sealed shut by numerous thick coral tentacles wrapped around it. No light or sound shall disturb it, for soon the time to feed will occur soon...

* * *

Genova Corps-Mercenaries for hire from seperated islands in the North Blue. Don't ask questions, enjoy shooting up others for no reason, no cooperation whatsoever, but come in large numbers. 

Commando-A Rank given to a person with the most kills and the quickest efficency.

Reginna-A female captain who enjoys messing with men's minds, especially since she has degrees in brain surgery. With her needles, she can 'force' pirates to tell her the truth about certain things.

Gregory-A fisherman with a powerful "rocket spear" designed to stab and then burn a fish on each end. Because of the Wharf, he has a foul mouth and a nasty attitude towards those willing to throw their lives away. Survives by his wits and has no loyalty but to his father.

Aragonite-A form of coral that is extremely dense, but alive enough to eat plankton by the truckload. However, those who touch it lose their lives somehow...

Cannon Polisher-Specialist in cleaning up after a sea battle, dusts the barrel and sweeps the floor beneath it. In a way, they prevent erosion of the cannon to keep it from combusting by accident.


	16. The FourGatekeepers:None Shall Pass pt1

Drode: Hmm...not bad. Passed the 300 mark, which is rather impressive considering this nutjob's luck. Still, it's not enough to satisfy my needs. A muse must always have his author ready to improve and expand his horizons, even if it means killing him for that cause. Anyways, since the forum has gotten a few people, let's have some more come by! SH plans to help anyone who wants to make a OP OC fanfic, and the best way to do that is to join SH's forum located in his profile. Not the homepage but the "My Forums". Got it? (does a Nagi pose doing so) If you want a freaking translation, go to the FreeTranslation website because I ain't converting languages, and this is basically a 2-part thing so be patient with the story length. Also, to Mr. 4, the fact of the matter is that cement is a harder material than wax but can be used to create armor that is stronger than Mr. 3's. As for Cloth Cloth and Ash and Ash, those two may come later in the next arc. (summons a dozen sharp swords and walks off with them) Now excuse me awhile I give Super Hurricane a good 'run-through' as to put up a new chapter early, 'k? (laughs evilly)

* * *

Ch 16 

"When walking in the desert with no food or water, make sure you always keep a bottle of ketchup handy so you can eat your camel when it dies of thirst. Then use the ketchup to trade for a dune buggy if you're lucky."

1 week ago...

"ARRFFFDD!!!!" WHAMM! WHAMM! WHAMM!

"Keep it up, moron. You nearly made a tiny, tiny dent the size of a berri dime in the tungsten steel triple-reinforced padded door." One of the Genova Corp guards said, mocking the efforts of the wolf-masked person as the familar sounds of collision once more echoed through the empty, darkened hallways.

The creature was lying on it's back, currently recovering from a migraine by slamming the metal mask into the padded door as it wished that it could use it's arms to scratch it's coarse welt-riddled neck of the bruises the bullets had done. Unfortunately, the steel girders welded by blowtorch around his torso prevented him from having any form of comfort done. The spine tendrils were cut off each morning due to quick regeneration, but not close enough to cause him to bleed externally again. He really, really wanted to kill those bastards for touching his beloved spines.

To say the least, he was in total isolation outside of the moronic jockish guards who will soon have their brains splattered across the room. It was a 10 by 10 by 10 ft room, enough room to move around, but no toilet or windows. Underhead was a neon light that shone brightly 24 hours every day since his escape. White room, white light, total silence, if he wasn't crazy already, he would have been eating the large mound of dung in the corner that served as a 'toilet'.

Only once a day was he fed, as a long bendy straw would be placed into his mask's 'mouth hole', which was basically less than a 1/16 of an inch, in which he sucked to drink the food and water. Tasted nasty most of the time, and sometimes the guards added a bit of sewage waste as a way of flavoring it, making the prisoner's life as cruel as possible. Even if he played sick or dead, no one came in to help as they knew better. Could anyone blame him for trying to break out?

No matter, he had a plan. Sooner or later, that door would be open, and he would be free once more to breathe once more the fresh air that supported life for all people. And maybe destroy the island. Perhaps both if he felt like it. If only he could sleep normally, he could thin-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

-Present Day-

"Too bad Nocturne isn't here, he could easily chop up those regenerating coral branches." Prelude said, feeling a bit light headed since the air was a lot denser inside the cavern than on the outside.

"Too -------ing bad. Usually by now the entrance closes for a half-hour or more, then reopens. If the torch goes out before the hour is up, then that means that all the oxygen has run out." Gregory snorted in contempt, as he brushed the open flames onto the small bushes of sea coral in their way. Slowly, the purple bushes withered and melted back into the floor. "Also, watch your step. I've seen these things numb a guy's leg and then chomp it off in under a minute."

Many of the naval recruits gulped, some frightened as their pace slowed down a bit, only to be jolted by Prelude's flare gun pressing against their back. She seemed rather comfortable despite the risks, as that is how she was trained as a Marine.

"How far is this place anyway?" Alto inquired, since the cavernous valley seemed endless since there was no light except for the torch to guide them. In a way, the range of sight was limited to 30 ft in front of them, in which they passed by lanes of illuminated multi-colored coral of all shapes and sizes glistening in the light.

"You'll see..."

As they walked along the pre-determined path, some of the recruits began to huddle closer together as minor animal sounds startled them. Some drew swords, others began using cleaner rods to push in the gunpowder rag and then the roundshot bullet in their single-shot rifles out of nervousness.

"Don't bother. That's just the coral mimicking animal noises to scare you. At best you'll only irritate it, wussies." Gregory said plainly as to dash their hopes of survival. "After all, it is a living being that came to this island long ago."

'Odd...the chief said that he knows his way around, but he seems to getting on everyone's nerves. Well, except Requiem of course, but he should respect the navy a little.' Gladyr thought, step-siding a "tongue" sticking out of a coral bush. Unknown to him, doing so caused his jar of pain-killer pills to fall into the bush by accident. The center of the bush tingled ever so slightly as the jar was slowly consumed by tiny, tiny mouths with sharp teeth, chomping it down to the last bit without any damage done to it. Not even glass shards remained, but now the mound was two feet larger in length and width.

"So...this Nocturne. Is he on the ship or something?" Gregory asked, trying to keep his mind off the hundreds of bulbous green "eyes" looking at the crew from all angles from the coral reefs. As long as no one attacked the coral, they should be safe for the time being.

"Well, no...but he's one of the people we're looking for. He cuts up swords, large weapons, and lots of pirate crews awhile staying perfectly hot with that long black and blond hair of his. I bet he could destroy this entire cave with one swing of Necrofain, using a hundred swords to tear it down instantaneously." Prelude said, swooning with hearts in her eyes. "He's even better looking than our ex-musician, and I plan to marry him one day after retirement."

"With a flat chest like that, I doubt it." The ornery fisherman chuckled, glancing at the small breasts that were more like a boy's.

"Oh geez! Hit the deck!" Every recruit and Alto yelled out, crouching down and holding their heads as Gregory learned in the next 5 minutes why Prelude hates being reminded of being less of a woman to everyone in the Gandros Navy. Even without flares, she managed to create a 4 foot wide crater in the floor by grabbing his legs from under him, then slamming his face into the coral pavement over and over, each time harder and harder. Gandyr held the torch spear, unwilling to be part of Prelude's signature move "the Midnight Bomber", wincing each time the face collided with the floor. The record person who took 10 minutes of that ended up in a coma for 3 years, only to wake up with no memory and a huge zit on his lip, a day that Gladyr gladly re-enlisted back, only to get pounded into the ground again by her.

"Say I'm gorgeous! Say it, you pig!!!" Prelude roared in hatred, just as a chunk of her blonde hair was blown away and scattered and fell on the floor. A 2000-grain slug blew a hole the size of a watermelon into the chest of the crew member behind her, sending him into a falling death and crashing into the lines, knocking them over as a result.

"M..my...hair!" Prelude's eyes watered, releasing her tight grip on Gregory's legs as he fell straight down into the crater on his back with a slightly bleeding face. Many seamen squirmed as her eyes were now filled with bloodlust, the very room being heated by the anger she felt upon losing some of her beauty.

"Gotta hand it to him, he must be in rare physical shape as to withstand that much pain and not have his skull cave in by now." Alto muttered, looking onward at the dazed expression on Gregory's face. He didn't care about Prelude's condition as she was asking for it. Maybe it was one of the seamen trying to stop her from killing the guide. Maybe.

"Ha! Ha! Herzlich willkommen ins 1. Tor, Sie Barbaren! Ich ließ nur bis zu 3 Menschen ein, wie ich Mengen hasse. Übergabe und Erlaubnis eine Weile haben Sie die Chance!" A odd, nasally sounding voice echoed through the valley. Many of the seamen looked around confused as to where the voice originated from, as two more shots rang out and blew chunks out of three close-by recruits, spraying blood upon their comrades.

"Oh crud.." Gregory said, unbudging himself as he began to stand up in a dizzy fashion. "This ain't good."

"Sie brachten das, boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy in Ordnung. Ich werde jeden letzten von Ihnen töten, um in mein Territorium einzugehen! Weil ich der große Alexander Hilton bin und das meine vertrauensvolle Elefantenpistole, der Windteufel ist!" A gray figure emerged 200 yards away after taking off a camoflauge blanket which covered his form. He was a squat young lad with parted yellow hair and freckles on his cheeks, wearing a gray sweater and brown slack pants, with spiked combat boots impaling the floor. He wore a monocle on his right eye, and looked rather like a professional hunter than a villain.

"What?" Gladyr said, as three more bullets collided to blow apart human skulls, killing several seamen in the process.

"He said that he has a **Elephant Gun** and that only 3 may pass. The rest of us have to either leave or be shot to death." One of the recruits, known as Jeff, said as he had degrees in translations.

"Don't let his bullets hit the walls! The coral has it's own immune system!" Gregory warned, but it was too late as 2 managed to dent the coral, shaving it off in one strike.

That was when three of the most ugliest of cylinder-like creatures came out where the bullets struck, all bulgy and yellow with puffy padding around it's body in the form of pillows. Each was about 15 ft long and 4 feet wide, slinking towards the group in a way to box they in as they screeched in a low tone to communicate with each other. Each of their wide-open mouths were like a lamprey's, ringed with many razor sharp teeth throughout the inside of their bodies. The area around their mouths (on what passes for a "head" on these creatures) is ringed with six red bulbous compound eyes which studied them to estimate which would be the first to be swallowed up.

"**Parazoa BioxSponges**!" Gregory yelled, scrambling out of the crater and grabbing the torch hammer. The creatures screeched even louder as he waved the flames in front of them, their red eyes turning darker in color. "Don't fire! Don't fire!"

"Shoot them! Shoot them!" Prelude gleefully said, as her own personal platoon pelted the man-eating self-aware sponges with enough ammo to destroy the Alamo building. Unfortunately, like a sponge does, the bullets hit but didn't pierce through, bouncing back on the floor in wide piles of used bullet shells. "They're not working!"

"I can see that you dip-----s! Normal weapons don't work on these things! Only exposed fire like my torch can ward them off!" Gregory yelled back, now extremely ticked off as the platoon shivered in fear at his nasty face. However, a greyish barnacle-type tongue shot out of the lamprey mouth and started to lick the air. Red starfish started to pop up along it's sides, then fell off on the floor, crawling towards the crew at turtle speeds. "**Starplanters**! Now that they have estimated the number of warm-blooded primates with those tongues, those things will implant BioxSponge seeds into your bodies, which would quickly grow to consume and destroy the body from within in minutes!"

"Well, then! Take out the guppies, then we'll work on something heavier!" Prelude said, dragging in a cannon.

"AYE!" Her infantry platoon cheered, saluting her as they began to pick off the slowly moving starfish.

"Where the ------- did you get that?" Gregory yelled, taken by surprise as she didn't have one before.

"One of the advantages of a large Navy group, Artillery assembly teams..." Prelude smirked, enjoying the downcast look on his face. "A week ago, we even took courses on chaingun dismantling." 5 more soldiers were blown apart by the tank-piercing power of the Elephant gun, and Requiem was at the moment trying to shove away one of the BioxSponges that slivered up next to her. For some reason her lack of any emotion made it attracted to her for some reason as it snuggled close.

"AAAAAAAA!" CHOMP! A naval recruit was dragged head first by the stretch grey tongue, as the creature eagerly consumed his body, growing fatter and larger as skin, blood, bones, organs and other body parts were absorbed into it's tissues. 2 more men soon were eaten alive, and more tongues were produced as a result to gather prey.

"So...that's his game is it? Blast us from the front, and have those things either implant baby sponge killers or devour us. Requiem, take out the sniper. I'll handle these three." Alto said, as he cracked his knuckles ready for combat.

"If you hit them with fists, you'll just get paralyzed by their stinging cell defense!" Gregory warned, as Alto moved in with a fast sprint.

"Who cares? **3 Finger** **Hexcut**!" With a powerful swing of his hand, folding his pinky and thumb onto his palm, he ripped multiple cuts right through the spongy material and caused it to fall apart within seconds. However, as a result, he was now covered in purple gunk which spewed from it's pores all over him. "Why can't I just stay clean during a mission? You freaks are going down! 2 Finger Snip!" He growled, as he turned his attention to the two other Bioxsponges who were eagerly devouring more and more screaming crewmembers by dragging them into their mouths.

"Sie wagen, mich, Dame herauszufordern? Ich werde Sie in einem Herzschlag wegblasen!" The young man with the large rifle said, as he auto-targeted Requiem as she sped towards him with no fear of any sort in her eyes. This in turn placed some doubts in his head, as the elephant gun should have made her a little afraid of getting shot. BLAAM! BLAAM! BLAAM! High caliber bullets shot towards her, yet she zig-zagged in mid-run to avoid them. Doing so twisted her ankle, causing her to pause as iron fillings began to hover around her, connecting and combining to form solid rectangles.

"...**Naamah's Blockade**..." She muttered, as the rectangles tured into iron bricks, spiralling around her quickly as to keep her from harm. BLAAM! BLAAM! BLAAM! BLAAM! More bullets rang out, heavily denting the barrier due to the anti-tank power of each shell. Her focus was completely void by now, concentrating only on erasing the one in front of her.

A iron orb the size of a marble formed in her palm, as it slowly reshifted into a pole-like shape, then curved inward. A cam also formed on the tip of each side of the pole, followed by incredibly thin iron string. The poles finally bent outward, forming a rather odd-looking bow within the five minutes it took to form. By then, the iron barrier was reaching it's limits as some of the bricks simply crumbled away. "...**Gabriel Compound Bow Complete**..."

She was getting tired, her arms feeling heavy and sore from maintaining the barrier, now holding onto the very powerful bow as she dropped the barrier. **Alexander**, aka the fat guy with the gun, grinned as he pulled the trigger as he was sure of a instant kill since she didn't look like she could move to dodge with that injured ankle. Flit! BLA-OOOOOM! Requiem relased her hold on the string, as a iron arrow went into the wide barrel and then filled it up at the end, causing the gun to detonate at close range when the bullet failed to come out.

"Aaaaaaaaaah! Mon fusil! Mes mains, ils sont brûlés! Vous petite chienne, je vous tuerai!" Alexander exclaimed, as his hands now looked like raw hamburger meat, fried and missing a few fingers. Flit! Before the man could do anything else, a foot long iron arrow embedded and then went all the way through the skull, killing Alexander before he could attempt anything foolish. The man slumped forward with a stunned look on his face, his jacket releasing 8 small gray balls towards Requiem due to the inclined slope of the floor.

"Requiem, look out!" Gladyr dive-tackled her, essentially saving her life as they avoided getting hit by the balls, which were actually tear gas grenades which exploded as they touched the wall. Many seamen coughed, their eyes swelling from the intense smoke as they scrambled out to breathe normally, only to face down 5 new BioxSponges who emerged out of the all to examine the source of the explosion.

"AAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEE! Help us!" Grey tongues come out, grabbing more sailors by the waists as they were pulled towards the mouths. However, some of them wielding sabers quickly moved in to chop the tongues as they were not as padded as the sponge skins, causing the mutant monsters to wail around in panic shuffling on their bellies.BOOOM! A cannonball slipped inbetween them, sending the monsters flying with debris impaling their thick skin, as well as a few seamen screaming in terror.

"Okayyy...remind me to send a letter saying that they were killed in the line of duty." Alto said, sweatdropping at the deep crater and the body parts that laid around it, as well as feeling depressed that he was still smelling like strawberries with the goo piled on him.

Gregory walked towards Alexander cautiously, then grabbed a key out of his safari pant's pocket. Some of the seamen looked at him in question, wondering why the fisherman was looting that strange man. Requiem started to feel dizzy, as her hands were slightly cut by the iron string, as it was placed back into the bag. Gladyr, being the closest, wrapped thin bandages around the fingers and her palms to stop the blood flow.

"Honestly, how many times must I tell you not to use that combat stance with a compound bow!?! It's too advanced for a beginner, and you never wear gloves to begin with. That's being idiotic at best. Next time wear gloves before ever attempting to try that style again or I will not treat you afterwards." Gladyr muttered, obviously irritate as the group began to move again, picking up ammo and weaponry. Obviously Requiem had a knack for not following orders, and thus trained in styles that could hurt her through blood loss.

Prelude, being a gun fanatic, happily helped herself to the Elephant gun only to learn that it was out of ammo and that the guy wasn't packing extra magazines. "Huh, guess I'll go shopping after we pick that jerk up. I can't wait to break it in." Was her only grinning response, making a dozen or more seamen around her nervous for their lives. By then they reached a second wider cavern, where faint shouts and screaming could be hard of both men and women, making the crew feel nervous as a result fearing the worst situation.

3 minutes later, the coral around them turned from purple to blue, making the valley seem more like the ocean than a cave. Even the bushes were in the form of waves, moving back and forth in a synchronized pattern.

"So, what's the key for? And how do you know that guy?" Prelude asked Gregory, as Requiem and a few crewmembers were trying very hard to cleanse their captain of the pink vomit. After all, with that liquid on his body, the strings would become visible to the enemy can could be avoided as a result.

"It's to get in the Clinic entrance and he was responsible for killing 67 of my fishermen group, so we had to run as the BioxSponges chased us around for hours. The next guy is a lot harder, and the BioxSponges are a bit more evolved than in the first Cave Area." Gregory said, keeping his voice low. "So tell the others to keep the noise down, okay? We might be able to get past that-"

KA-WHAMM! Before he could finish, Alto's face was smashed into the round by a large 400 lb sink from behind. The same sink then smacked around the seamen who were cleaning him up, some of them getting their skulls bashed in by the sheer power of the strike.

"Heh, I though it was odd that the blabbermouth was being so silent. Most of the time I just smiled and nodded, but you guys took him out so suddenly. What kind of Navy people kill mercenaries without trial?" A man with a thick black beard sneered, wearing a plaid shirt, overalls and blue pants and normal shoes. He was roughly 5'6" and muscular, with coarse hands and lean legs. His eyebrows were thick, and his nose was bulbous and round. The sink was attached to 5 separate straight metal pipes which was about 5 foot in length. The sink was rather large, maybe 3 feet wide and 2 feet long, and looked heavy enough to break through a ship hull.

'Another weirdo...' Was the single though on each of the crew's minds, as they reloaded their bullet chambers and drew their sabers for battle.

"Whatever, all I know is that you pansies can't hit the broadside of a barn! **SINK HOLE**!" Crouching down, the man leapt over their heads with the sink weapon still attached, then slammed it down upon a group of seamen who were currently assembling a new cannon. The result was a 20 foot wide crater as it crashed down, splattering a good chunk of the seamen into bloody pancakes and sending others flying on their backs.

"Then, **SINKING PLOW**!" The sink swung to the right, bashing in the ribs of anyone who dared to fire upon him. "You can't beat the power of Jacob Stone, plumber extraordinaire!"

Ding! Ding! Bullets ricocheted off the surface of the sink, barely indenting it's ceramic marble texture. "**SINKING PLOWDRIVER**!" Using the sink as a lance, he bashed in the nearest sharpshooter's face, then slammed it down to fully crush the body into a gory paste. "**SINKER FORKLIFT**!" The sink smashed into another group, knocking them into two other platoons resulting in a domino effect.

Just as Jacob was about to swing the sink again, the sound of ceramic clashing against steel could be heard as Prelude shielded the others by crossing her arms. On each hand was a glove with a strange motorized knob that spun the large saw blades in front of her. "The martial art of the **Hina**: Fist of the Solar Saw." She said under her breath, as she went forward to take a wide chunk of the sink off with a right cross punch.

"Not bad, little girl. But that's as far as I'll let you damage my kitchen sink!** SINKER PILEBUNKER BURST**!" He said, now rapidly thrusting the sink towards her as to hit her in the face and snap off her neck. She countered, using one of the large saws as a shield and then slicing at the sink, taking a few bruises due to the sheer power behind each blow.

'Just have to time it just right...' Prelude thought, watching carefully for a pattern as the pilebunker barrage continued. As for as she was concerned, the others were currently being helped out by Gladyr, so she was basically the only one capable of fighting on equal ground until that moronic captain woke up. The saw blades were made of tungsten steel, so it would be difficult to damage them despite the heavy sink's size and weight. But if the clockwork mechanism was broken, then the saw blades would stop spinning and would be useless as a melee weapon.

That was when the fatigue started to kick in, as the sink thusted a second slower than the previous time. 'Now!' She thought, ducking and sliding on the smooth surface towards a semi-shocked Alexander. "**Mid-day Knuckle**!" She roared, targeting the 1/2 thin strip of pipe which connected the sink to the 'pole'. The spinning saw blade collided, slicing the pipe as if it was made of cardboard, then split the sink in half as well as it fell towards her.

"F-fine! I don't need that thing anyway!" He stammered, taken back by the sheer power the saw blades possessed, dropping the pipe backing up. Digging into his pockets, he pulled out two monkey wrenches, each 2 feet in length and weighed 200 lbs each. "Heh heh...now you're in for it!"

With a single step, he jumped towards her with gnarled teeth, slashing away with the heavy tools. "Uuurgh!" She grunted, as the saw blades took minor damage upon blocking, but were unable to penetrate the metal of the wrenches.

"You like that, dollface? This is why I'm the 2nd Gatekeeper! **Backside Blowout**!" PPPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFFFT! Twisting around and bending over before she could react, Alexander unleashed a devastating fart in her face, causing her to gag out in reflex over the stink of methane gas. "Heh heh! How do you like me now?" Turning around, he could see Prelude surrounded by a fierce dark aura, one that was full of killing rage.

"...You...you fat turd! How dare you break wind in front of a lady! Especially one that's a marine!" She roared, her eyes shining brightly as she discharged the saw blades in exchange for her bare hands onto the floor.

"Who the heck cares? I kill women and men, there's no difference to me!" He grinned, rapidly blitzing her with the wrenches as he attempted to use them like clubs to wear down the saw blade shields and damage the mechanism."Besides, what can a weak girl like you do with your hands? My wrenches are made out of the hardest metals around!" The plumber chuckled, as Prelude and him exchanged blows which connected against each other. Only this time her hands were taking damage, with multiple bruises and cuts as she punched at the heavy tools without much success and Jacob took no damage at all.

'I can do this...I just have to think logically.' She thought, wincing a little from blocking a straight slash to the shoulder. Watching closely, she could tell that her opponent's left hand was a bit longer than his right. 'That's it!' Before the wrench landed, Prelude caught the hand holding it and held tight as to keep it as close as possible without harming her.

"Grrrr...let go!" Jacob snarled, as he geared back his right hand to slam it down hard enough to shatter Prelude's skull. Only to realize that that hand was caught seconds after he was about to land a hit. A mischievous smile crept across  
her face, knowing that victory was assured.

"You look down on me because the Navy doesn't usually recruit women, right?"

"GGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" His right hand was shattered instantaneously as soon as she applied hand pressure upon it. Each finger bone snapped like twigs, the wrist crippled and broke into small chunks.

"Well, I have news for you. Despite my lack of a figure like **Captain Hina**, I make up for it in brute strength in my hands and feet instead of my legs and arms. So although your wrenches are unbreakable, your hands are unguarded. You've probably never grappled before either, or taken yoga lessons to amplify your fighting techniques..."

"AAAA! AAAA! AAAA! STOP IT!" The left hand was the next to go, increasing the sheer torture as every blood vessel burst, staining her own hands a bit as she gleefully enjoyed his suffering.

"You've made a big mistake when you attacked the captain. Only I get to hurt him physically, as he's my personal punching bag. Now I'll end you in a way fitting for a moron of your stature! **Break of Dawn**!" She first headbutted Alexander hard in the face as he was screaming, knocking him over onto his back, and then jumped down upon his chest with a powerful snap-kick. It was over before Alexander could even move his arms to defend against her, as his chest caved in on impact, as well as cratered the floor 1 foot down.

"...Incredible..." Gregory mouthed, utterly stunned by the sheer strength that the flat chested girl had done. Over a hundred of the fishermen he had with him were butchered by either the sink hammer or the wrenches. And there was still the 2 remaining gatekeepers. And the amazing deadly humans inside the clinic which nearly killed him. Walking over to the corpse, he snatched the 2nd key out of the pocket before walking to the third cavern entrance.

"What are you all waiting for? Time's a-wasting and I want to retrieve our nakama as much as everyone else! So let's move out and beat down anyone who gets in our way!" Prelude yelled, raising a fist in the air and pumping it with excitement. The remaining crew cheered with her, getting their sabers and rifles ready for the next challenger now that Prelude was leading morale.

Alto, on the other hand, felt a bit annoyed as Gladyr applied the bandages onto the huge bump on his forehead. "I wanted to beat the guy up..." He pouted, jealous of Prelude's immense need to outdo him on fighting skills. Yet, since he was taken by surprise, he'll be sure to take on the next fighter whoever he was.'Hang on, man, we're coming!'

And in one of the over-sized backpacks, Cresendo was grinning wickedly as well crouched tightly with a purple mallet attached by belt to her backside. "Don't worry, **Hoppi**...I will make sure there's plenty of food to go around...gee gee gee..." She whispered as 2 sets of yellow eyes glistened with hunger in the darkness, followed by the growl of hungry stomachs...

* * *

Elephant Gun-A Level 4 weapon, stronger than Prelude's flare guns. Unstoppable piercing power, loads one slug at a time. Can even damage Funkfreed. 

Parazoa Bioxsponges-The beings that make up the inner wall of the valley cavern, when the wall is attacked, they seek out any living creatures to devour. Immune against conventional weapons, and can increase the size of the valley depending on the number of humans they eat. After all, sponges are living beings and use the coral to detect prey.

Starplanters- Like a white blood cell's offensive attack to absorb and destroy germs from the inside, they are difficult to destroy due to regeneration.

3 Finger Hexcut-A multi-directional strike to cut through the opponent horizontal, diagonal and vertical, all at the same time as to ensure absolute elimination. Only used on non-humans.

Naamah's Blockade-Requiem's strongest defense, but wears out the iron fillings as a result and requires replacing when burned out. Also drains her energy at a rapid rate, as well as mental energy.

Gabriel Compound Bow-Instead of arrowheads, as a navigator, this is her main weapon. However, due to inability to feel pain or any emotion, she forgets to wear gloves which would prevent the razor-sharp string from cutting into her fingers. However, it is because of that that she is unaffected by the stiffness of the pulley cams and the tightness of the string. Very accurate and powerful, as the arrow can change shape in mid-flight to increase damage done.

Sinking Plow-A swinging attack with the kitchen sink, as the sink is too wide and heavy to block.

Sinker Plowdriver-A powerful push followed by bashing with the kitchen sink. Naturally can be used to block bullets as well.

Sinker Forklift-A raising attack to throw people, or shove them hard towards others.

Hina-Sun, which is basically the Island Tribe that Prelude came from. All of which use saw blades as melee weapons when they are unable to use guns.

Sinker Pilebunker Burst-High speed thrusts, capable of breaking through a Bank Vault. Very difficult to dodge or move around.

Mid-day Knuckle-A Sawblade punch designed to sever weaponry at the weakest point, requires timing and measuring of distance between them. Very easy to slip up though, as the saw blades are heavy and could backlash against her.

Backside Blowout-A heavy gas attack that could send most men on their knees, begging for air as it's poison will take effect minutes after release.

Captain Hina-A well-endowed woman with a sharp wit and a talent of locking normal pirates up just by touching them. Prelude is highly jealous of her figure.

Break of Dawn-A back-breaker attack that puts all her strength into her foot, which is only good against those lacking armor and on their backs.

Hoppi-A mallet with a Devil Fruit of unknown origin, classified as a Level 7 weapon. Likes Cresendo for some reason.


	17. The FourGatekeepers:None Shall Pass pt 2

Drode: (sweatdrops) 450 views, huh? Man, that's twice the amount he made with that Maplestory thing. Oh well, the reason he was late was that I nudged him a bit too hard and the sword nailed him on the head. Had to pull off a Dokoro-chan thing to revive him but it took a few days. If he doesn't make any new chapters for a while, that just means he has been grounded for a while. Hope to see you later, and please visit our forums. After all, we know that many of you like One Piece and the forum is the best place to talk about it. Including you of course, Kilnorc...(teleports away carrying a zanbatou to torture SH with)

* * *

Ch 17

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, I would have the next arc done already since there is only 22 episodes worth of the Thriller Bark arc.

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_Dear Doctor,_

_In all my years as a pirate psychologist, I have never forgotten the first time my eyes met in my study of the creature. It was 4 months ago, and his bulbous black eyes were blazing with anger, twisting his shoulders in order to shrug off the Genova guards despite the iron straitjacket. He was mad, a lunatic in which I could tell rather easily by the dozens of guards being treated in the Med Ward for poisoning and severe wounds. Some of them were heavily burnt, their limbs torn when he chomped down on them._

_We stayed in the same room, but I stayed behind a fireproof, shatter-proof glass wall so the creature could speak to me without that mask. He bashed, sliced with your tendrils, torched, pounded and even tried his own blood, but in the end, it gave up trying to break down the walls, floor and ceiling. I understood how it felt, a being of extraordinary potential cooped up in that padded cell with no one to interact with. _

_When we talked, it was a little tidbit at a time. The creature killed a large portion of it's tribe after the village hanged your mother in the village square because of rumors of a extra relationship. Exiled out of the village. Forced to become a side-show act. Destroying town after town because they attacked you because of what you look like. 85 million bounty at the age of 9 because of the attacks. Then Kuma caught him. Reformed right after. Sad to say, I thought he was a miserable person who was simply misunderstood. Yet it growled, cursing me for being normal._

_Highly unstable and unable to communicate properly. Would suggest movement of cell into a more comfortable atmosphere. Also improve food portions and dump dung into the 3rd cave. The number of bruises are increasing, so the Genova Corps must be sent to another cell. If the creature is calmer, then it would be possible to tame and then control him. That is all._

-Dr. Kayly Crowl, psychologist

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CRUNCH! "What do I pay these people, peanuts? When I demand results, I get results! This, this is utter junk!" The man in the labcoat said, sitting in the dark as he threw the paper wad into the trash. With his other hand, he pressed down on the intercom Den Den Mushi.

"Yes, Doctor?" A sweet, yet sly female voice came out of the snail phone's mouth.

"I need you to set up a place and time for Dr. Kayly's "retirement" from this facility. It seems she has become a bit too soft for his job. And we can't allow slacker slime to act as professionals when the Director is the one paying me, can we?" He said, chuckling a bit as he produced a pen out of his gloved palm. Then pushed it back in, making it disappear. Then pulling it back out again.

"Of course, Doctor. And your 3 o'clock appointment is here to see you. Unfortunately his tears are soaking the carpet, so expect to have wet socks walking out." The female answered back. "Here he comes now..."

Creakkkkkkkk...one of the old oak doors slid open, as a small 9 year old boy dressed in blue striped clothing walked in, his eyes dripping like mad onto the floor. "(sniff) I (sniff) can't stop (sniff) crying. Please let me (sniff) go back to my dad and mom?" He bawled, as his nose also became runny.

"Now, now...if you pass the examination and become 'pure', I will be more than able to allow you safe passage back to the wharf." The Doctor said, a fake smile on his face. Drooping his left hand into his right palm, he produced a glass of red liquid to appear in front of the kid.

"...ehhhh(sniff)..." The kid applauded, a bit impressed and amazed, but was a bit cautious as to the drink. After all, the guards put 'nasty' stuff in the food dispenser in his cell before.

"It's okay, I'm the only one who cares about people like you. This is my special Fruit Juice, made to fill you up with lots of energy." He grinned even more, as the kid slowly reached out to grab it. "Drink it, and then we'll just do a routine exam."

"Ummm(sniff)...okay." Staring into the cup, the kid figured that he had nothing to lose as he chugged it down like a fisherman would, head bent upwards and mouth wide open in order to drink it in one gulp. "Tastes a bit (sniff) gross, but not as bad (sniff) as..."

2 seconds later, the Doctor looked at the pale-skinned boy lying face-flat on the floor with his eyes rolled up. With one hand, he checked the boy's wrist for a pulse. Nothing. Then looked at the chest after flipping him over with his polished leather shoe. No breathing whatsoever. Clammy skin. Bad underwear smell. Jaw wide open all the way. Strange continuation of crying.

"Experiment #3,432: Fail. But it was interesting nonetheless. Won't you agree, **Timekeeper**?" The Doctor asked, spinning his swivel chair to face a wizen 9 foot tall old man in brown baggy robes, currently using a screwdriver to repair the large grandfather clock. In his hands was a clipboard, with a big X painted over the boy's picture.

"Beeeeeeeeaaaaaaats meeeeeee. Iiiiiiiii thiiiiiiiiink yyyyyyyoooouuuu'reeee aaaaaan iiiiidiiiiiioooot iiiiiif yyyyyoooouuuuu thiiiiink theee Diiiiireeeectooooor wooouuuldn't fiiiind ooout abooouuut yooouuur laaack ooof suuuucceeess." The tall, balding man said, mocking him as he adjusted the clock so the seconds would be perfectly in alignment with the sundial. His tone droned on after every vowel, making him slow as a thinker.

"Hmmph...progress takes time. I will defeat my rival soon enough." Swiveling around again, he pressed down on the Den Den Mushi. "Sharon, the appointment has fell through. Can you dispose of the trash, please?"

"Of course." **Sharon** said on the other line.

"As for you, keep a watch out for anyone who isn't alone. You are after all my ace in the hole." The Doctor said, as the right side of his glasses revealed a rather odd pentagram cut into it.

"Yeees, Doooctooor. Aaas yooouuu cooommaaand..."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
-Present Day-

"What the heck is wrong with you, Prelude?"

What was wrong was that the sniper was spasming on the ground, foam building in her mouth and her body was twitching every few seconds. This event occurred a minute after the deadly plumber was taken out, as she fell over just before arriving at the mouth of the 3rd Valley Cavern.

Several groups of 3 had gone on ahead, mainly to scout out any possible disturbances and to locate the third gatekeeper's position. So far, none of them had screamed or cried out for help, which was either good or bad depending on the enemy's strength.

"She looks like Requiem whenever she gets in contact with a Log Pose, dont'cha think?" One of the seamen murmured, enough to start up a rumor chain to cut down their morale a bit.

"Everyone shut up! I'm trying to figure out what's making her squirm like that!" Gladyr barked, earning instant silence from those not wishing to have their bodies frozen by his Shock Touch. He was poking her with a wooden stick at the same time though, making some of them look at him questionably. "What? I'm not going to let her bear-hug the crud out of me like last time."

"It's your job, Gladyr."

"May I remind you captain that I am only an expert on EXTERNAL wounds. I can fix the bruises on her hands, but this goes a lot deeper than what I can repair." Gladyr said, joyfully happy that such a chance had arrived. "Heck, if I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have had my Medic Corps stay behind to help treat the villagers since they are qualified."

"Yea, but you still have to treat her. Otherwise her mom would tan your hide." Alto said, reminding many of the veteran crew of the last 'Prelude' and how she tortured them for weeks on end, causing many to fall into a depressed state of mind.

"I'm a physician, not a miracle worker! There's no way she'll stay still for me to find out what's wrong." Gladyr argued, knowing that he only packed bandages and cast wrappings, as well as morphine and a few tranquilizers.

"What the doc means is that it's poison." Gregory said, turning all heads facing him as he smirked for the recognition of being a guide. "Seen it myself, took out 15 of our warriors due to a time delay. That plumber's gas, when inhaled within 3 feet, can become a air-based toxin, in which the victim has 3 hours to live. But according to what I've heard, there should be a cure for it over at the clinic if we live to get the remaining 2 keys and take out the guard dogs."

"You heard him, get the stretcher! We'll handle his condition when we arrive and no sooner." Gladyr ordered, pointing towards those designated of transporting the injured.

A stretcher was taken out of one of the backpacks, as four strong seamen carefully lifted her upon it, as she could easily take them out if she fell on the ground on purpose. A squad then surrounded her and the four carrying the stretcher in a Escort Circle, making certain that no one would catch them by surprise.

"Alright, men! There's an antidote in that building and possibly some power-mad psycho as well. So let's move in before Prelude kicks the bucket!"

"Aye, aye! Captain Alto, sir!"

"Don't call me sir, it's embarrassing." Alto murmured, feeling uncomfortable with that term. Of course, no one heard him.

Continuing on as they entered the 3rd cavern mouth, the noise level was much higher than before as the sounds caused some of the seamen to shiver in fear and wet their finely-tailored white pants. Alto, being a captain, wore shorts as a way to break off from tradition since it was a Spring Island and had no concerns over the screaming and wailing.

SQUISH! That is, until he stepped in the most revolting piece of dung imaginable.

"YYYYUUUUUCCCCK!" He yelled, his voice echoing throughout the cave before Gladyr could cover his mouth.

"What the heck is this doing all over the floor?" A seaman complained, lifting his boot up to expose the smelly scum. As Gregory's torch shone, the light exposed hundreds of piles of poop scattered all over the ground.

"Bat gauno?" Alto's right eye twitched, his nose nearly overwhelmed by the stench as he retched in disgust.

"Bats cannot live here. The BioxSponges would attack anything moving along the walls and ceiling. This ----hole is where the clinic dumps human waste by the shipload, as to not only gross out intruders but to increase the size of the coral valley as well." Gregory said, recalling the nasty swamp of dung that awaited him and the fishermen warriors. "They also throw the dead bodies in here as well, and then shoot one of the walls once a week so the Bioxsponges can clean it up. They practically act as vacuum cleaners to fix messes like this, growing in size and harvesting the bodies to grow their young."

"Captain! There's a dead kid lying in here!" One of the groups came in, carrying a small child in striped clothing soaked with tears. "We also found numerous deceased children and old men in the dung mounds, perfectly preserved since there's no worms to rot them!"

Gregory looked stunned, shaking in his boots as he stared at the dead body, overwhelmed by grieving. Biting his lip, he walked over to the boy in order to close the eyelids. "Jeffery..."

"You know this kid?"

"Yes, you -----wipe, I know him. He was one of the many that were missing from their homes, we had assumed he had ran away from the note he left on his bed like the others." Gregory snapped, turning around as he quickened his pace despite the fact he was wearing sandals in the glop.

"Hmm...a mass kidnapping, eh? Now I have a reason to tear this place down." Alto said, his voice squeaky as he had borrowed a clothes-pin from one of the seamen in charge of laundry duty.

A quick grave was dug by those responsible for Navy Burials, and Requiem performed her Miko priestess duties in order to give the boy's soul purification. It was confirmed over 60 people young and old all had the foot in the mouth look, all killed without wounds or poisoning done to them and covered with compost. It was if they had all been struck by a fast moving disease that killed them in an instant.

'Odd...he looks like a Devil Fruit user, but that expression reminds me of something...' Gladyr thought, folding his arms as a few seamen carried his luggage for him. 'Oh well, I'll try and remember it later.'

"Hmm?" A seaman suddenly felt chilly, as a fast moving figure shot past him from behind.

"What is it, Marcus? Don't tell me that you want to go to the outhouse in this junk." A carpenter-based seaman said, noticing that Marcus was straying from the group.

The shy seaman shook his head, feeling embarrassed as he laughed slowly. "Nah, I just felt-" His head was split in two vertically, spraying gray brain matter on his comrade, as a large razor-sharp postcard had cut right through the skull.

"Weakling vermin...how dare you come in such large numbers upon hallowed ground. I will pick off what that fool left off, as you have now entered my territory. BEWARE!" A tall 5'9" man in blue leather jeans, a multi-pocketed light blue shirt and a dark blue mail cap said, retrieving the postcard and inserting it into one of his shirt pockets. He had short black hair, a crooked nose, and gleaming green eyes filled with greed and hatred, carrying a large duffel bag on one arm.

"Okay, buster! I don't know who you think you are, but no one attacks the Navy under my watch. Surrender or be-arrrrgh!" Alto said, storming towards the man with strings fully extended, only to get slammed by a heavy boot to the chest. that in turn caused him to flip over, falling towards the dung in a face-plant. SQUISH! SPLAT!

"Moronic captain, is that the best the Navy can come up with nowadays? You can't fight the likes of me, the mighty Letter Carrier assassin, **Louis Franam**! **Dagger Express**! BEWARE!" Digging into his pockets, he produced four letters in each hand and then threw them at the closest gunners taking aim. Their rifles were shredded as the letters cut through them, as well as the arms holding them.

BLAMM! BLAMM! Several more marksmen fired upon the vicious mailman, who sprinted out of the way with amazing speed for someone of his height. "Neither rain nor snow nor sleet shall stop me from reducing your numbers to zero! **Unabomb Express**! BEWARE!" Taking out two fat and large letters in each hand, he threw them towards the gunners.

"Move out! Move out!" Came from the commanding officer's mouth as the group scrambled out of the way, firing upon the ever-moving swift weapons. One of them exploded in a large fireball when a bullet struck, but the other three detonated, sending seamen flying all over the cavern.

"Hahaha! Take more and more! BEWARE!" Louis mocked, throwing more letter bombs all over the cavern to maximize front-line casualties. That is, until a bullet ran right through his left shoulder, cutting his good mood short.

"**Front Wall Battalion Barrage**!" 50 gunners lined up behind each other by height, placing their guns on the head of the smaller crewmember to balance the shot and take aim. BLAAAAAM! A synchronized volley of ammunition caused the crazed postal worker to scramble, taken back by the intense level of firepower that the Navy carried.

"You guys want some of this! **Around the World Express**! BEWARE!" Numerous postcards were thrown, each as sharp as Ginzu knives, but they were quickly blasted out of the air by the sharpshooters.

'Crud! I thought this would be easy, but they seem completely different from normal Navy crews! How the heck are they getting this much power from?' He thought, taking down a few more saber users by throwing a bunch of explosive packages filled with lit dynamite. "AAAAAUGH! BEWARE!" By accident when deep in thought, he stumbled over Requiem's foot, which in turn knocked him on his back.

"..." Requiem just stared blankly at the evil postman, not truly in the mood to kill him outright.

"Are you alright, captain?" Gladyr asked, getting out a wet rag to clean up Alto's fuming face and his shirt as the two were escorted out of the battlefield by Gregory. Apparently, due to the flammable nature of dung and all the explosions, Gregory determined that Louis was trying to start a huge fire to kill them off.

"Fine, mppph! I'm fine! Man, that stuffs nasty." Alto spat out a mouthful of poop, annoyed that he was missing the battle.

"You are lucky, most of the villagers couldn't handle Louis's Kickboxing style since we're a peaceful town. But shouldn't you get back and take him out?" Gregory inquired, as he saw Louis bringing out a 2 by 3 foot cardboard box out of the duffel bag.

"I have faith in Requiem and my seamen nakama. Even though none of them are veterans like us, they cannot be defeated that easily. Look." Alto said, pointing out those who were hit by the explosion, rising to their feet to join in the battle.

Each of them looked eager despite the heavy wounds and cuts done to them, including those severely beaten by the previous 2 gatekeepers. "Under my supervision, even a boy can become a man with the right attitude. I taught each of them not to hate pirates, but to find out if what they believe in is right."

"But I've never seen a pirate ship dock here, yet your men look like they're losing!" Gregory countered, as the cardboard box fired off a dozen spike-lined, spring-propelled boxing gloves sending the closest ones flying with multiple cuts.

"**Special Delivery Punches**!" Some fell, taking hits but others ran towards the mailman with vengeance in their eyes. That was when Louis brought out a wide black bottle with his other hand, releasing a heavy current of dark liquid upon them with the force of a fire hose.

"**Macage Repellent**!" Many cried out as the bitter fluid stung their eyes and howled in humiliation as they tried to wipe it out. 3 more bullets ended Louis's right calf, nearly making him double over from the pain. "Not yet..." He bit his lip, as he tossed a blue package filled with active grenades towards the sniper battalion. "Dangerous Goods Delivery!"

WHOOOSH! A seastone net shot out and widened around the box, carrying it away from the crowd several feet away before exploding harmlessly. Louis's expression was dumbfounded, as he had completely forgotten the Navy's latest pirate capturing weapon, the 'Seabed Blanket' net.

"That's for killing Larry!" Jacob yelled, as all four of Prelude's Elite Squad were packing Rocket Launchers, targeting from 4 different angles. "Art of the Light Brigade: **Holy Cross Formation**! Fire!" WHOOSH! WHOOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

'Can't counter in time...' Throwing three bladed postcards by spinning on one foot, he was nailed heavily in the back by the fourth rocket, the flames char-boiling his body in the explosion. The other 3 exploded harmlessly as the postcards cut right through them, sending debris throughout the cavern,

"You did well, but this is where you pay for hurting and killing my men." Alto said coldly, appearing behind Louis with a palm raised upwards, causing the maniac's eyes to widen in shock.

"4** Finger** **Swat**!!!" Louis was sent flying by the heavy blow into the wall, as Alto's strings were too filthy to cleave through flesh and bone. His key fell off his neck onto the floor

"No...no, no, no!" Louis screamed as a dozen BioxSponges emerged out of the coral, on top of him and by the sides, as he was savagely ripped apart and eaten piece by piece by the multi-layered teeth. Each of them were a bit more padded, with 2 extra compound eyes and had 6 thick tentacles to move around.

'Let's get moving, guys...' Alto motioned with his hands, not really in the mood to deal with the new threat. The other Marines nodded, slowly creeping towards the cave entrance as silently as they could, as to avoid getting eaten. Gregory tip-toed quietly nearby the man feast, wincing as he dug into the waste to collect the key, then quickly sprinted as fast as possible to join up with the others.

4 seamen also walked behind him, but their expressions were blank and their eyes were rolled back, their willpower evaporated. On their shirts was a unsightly bulge that rose up and down, as if it were alive. Soon, it will be time to harvest and reap the rewards of labor...

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Upon entering the 4th cavern, the crew stood in awe at the colossal building that stood in front of them, as it was forty-five stories tall. At a bird's eye view, it would look like a oval, but at ground level, it was a metal dome with no doors or openings, surrounded by a 25 foot high wall fence. Yet, it was there that the yells of desperation and panic were at their peak as sweat dripped down many of the crewmember's foreheads.

"So, Gregory. Are you going to explain to me what the heck those Gatekeepers are on and how you plan to use those keys when there is no door?" Alto said, starting to feel irritated by the lack of numbers since the gatekeepers picked them off little by little.

"From what the Wharf Intelligence Bureau has gathered, that's one of the things we do to keep in contact with other islands, the -----ing clinic has gathered a large gathering of bad----mercenaries known as the Genova Corps to protect it from people such as yourself."

"Genova Corps?"

"Yes. You know them? Because all we received was the name."

"Well, as you said, they are mercenaries. But the World Government perceives them as a global threat as to attacking embargos and transport ships carrying Class 9 Weaponry by the hundreds. Not one of them is a Devil Fruit user, yet there have been rumors of them taking out Logia class with mere bullets and swords. About 5.9 percent of the islands in the West Blue are currently inhabited by them, and it's said their total population exceeds 30,000 followers. Which is more than Enies Lobby, but still, they are a military organization with no set leaders or commanders, only working under those who pay them well."

"I see, anyway, the Gatekeepers are composed of those in Genova who originally had jobs as to lay low. Each, as you have seen, then converted the basis of that job into a combat style designed to slaughter opponents. Not only do they keep large groups out, they also prevent escaping. And for the keys, well, if we pass the guard dogs on the other side of the fence, I'll show you how we enter."

"Whatever. And apparently the last one's blocking our way." Alto said, his expression sullen and worn out from the amount of beatings that he took.

The opponent was a lanky 17 year old, messy greased up black hair, a brown mole on his right cheek, small pimples on his face and neck, and a twisted smile which chewed on a long french fry. And unlike the other three, he was only wearing white briefs and an apron.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Alto said, turning around with a hand covering his mouth, feigning illness over the disgust of male near-nudity in his presence. After all, that was one of the things he HATED about the Navy, as he made rules that all male sailors must shower with a T-Shirt and Swim Trunks since he had the authority to do so. Female sailors could do as they wished, as the men's room had a few peep holes yet to be discovered.

"Well now, I count at least 400 of you. The others must be slacking off if they let you pass, but they are replaceable by Genova Corps standards. I'm Mitch, the 4th and Final Gatekeeper. And I have yet to meet the guy who can best me in combat!" The guy known as Mitch grinned, pointing towards himself.

"Take him down!" Gladyr yelled, handing the captain a barf bag and unloaded one of his suitcases. Immediately, the ones wielding sabers rushed in from all sides yelling for the thrill of battle.

"Heh! **Platinum Spatula** Summon!" Mitch laughed evilly, as he took out a massive 7 foot gray spatula out of his apron, the edges twice as sharp as the postcard shurikens. "**Grill Cutter**!" In one swift roundtable slash, the odd teenager severed 8 saber users torsos from their hips, then flipped to flat side to nail them on the heads, knocking them out.

"...Lucifuge's Trident..." The three spinning arrowheads were launched out from Requiem's hand, only to shatter harmlessly as Mitch struck them hard with the spatula. The iron fragments fell to the floor, as the master of the cooking arts chuckled in amusement.

"Nanana! Moron! Nothing can destroy my Spatula! I had it custom-made at at the Baratie and then had it reinforced with the strongest metal out there! Your efforts are futile!" 3 more seamen were piledrived into the ground, as the master fry chef spun his spatula like a baton.

"That's what you think! **Torso Wrap**!" A thick cast bandage slid around his waist, in which a extension was connected to Gladyr's wrapped hand. "How do you like my Cast Corset! With it, I can cut your breathing down and break your lower ribcage just by yanking hard!"

"Is that right..." Mitch smirked wickedly, as he placed both hands on the cast and forcefully pushed it down keeping his legs together.

"No way...he still has all his skin attached. That Cast Corset is one of Gladyr's trickiest skills since no one can remove it without losing parts of their flesh." One of the recruits whispered, shocked as the young man removed the item as if it was a piece of toilet paper. It was dripping wet, covered in some sort of...cooking oil?

"**Body Grease,** the one thing that a human can use to free himself when dogpiled in nothing but his underwear. Makes me super slick and increases my speed, as I practically bathe in it in order to perfect my cooking." Mitch answered the question on everyone's minds.

But enough about that, here's where it gets interesting." Rummaging into his apron pocket, he pulled out a purple sphere the size of a golf ball and tossed it towards a bunch of marines currently taking aim. "Eat this, **Spicy Mustard Gas**!"

"AAAAAAAUUUUGH!" One by one, they fell over clutching their throats once the putrid yellow gas surrounded them. Their insides were burning, their tongues were swollen and their throats were as dry as the Alabastan Desert.

"And now, **Sweet Relish Gas**!" Producing a Green Sphere, he tossed it carelessly at the group behind him, but it never reached it's destination. Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! The capsule was forced to implode on itself, torn into small fragments due to the speed of Alto's strings.

This time, there was no joking around. His eyes were that of a assassin, ticked off and ready to rumble with only revenge on his mind. With only 363 crewmembers remaining, including his personal troops, he wasn't going to let this underpaid fry cook hurt any one else.

His strings, fully cleansed, were once again invisible to the naked eye but since both of them were fighting outside of the torch light, it didn't really matter. Even for the fact that Alto could barely see in the dark due to his thick glasses.

"Ah, so the Mighty Slayer of The Red Strings has finally gotten serious. Time to get my game up a notch." Mitch said, flipping over the spatula to reveal that it was fully covered with cooking oil and gasoline. "This should be fun."

"Enough talk!" With a single step, Alto sped towards him so quick that he became a blur, reappearing behind Mitch all five fingers slicing down upon him. "Full Hand Shredder!"

"**Scorching Grill Shield**!" At the same time, the spatula turned to face the strings, causing a spark to cause the tool to ignite in a large fireball, knocking Alto back with minor burn wounds. The spatula was now in the form of a pan, burning wildly as Mitch crept a nasty grin across his face. "**Hot Meatballs**!" Twirling the pan, he sent multiple softball-sized fireballs towards Alto who lashed out, slicing the apart as he repeatedly moving around him, slashing horizontally to cut the pan in half.

The strings were deflected however, and the flame inside of the pot shot outwards like a flamethrower nearly consuming Alto who leapt to the right and rolled to snuff out any flames on his clothing. 'Darn it! That thing must as hard as Wapolium...and he's leaving little openings.'

"**Flavor Searing**!" Mitch called out, as his greasy hand poured in a bottle of cooking oil, then swished it around a bit to increase the intensity of the fire. "Now, **Cooking Spreader**!" Flinging it forward awhile holding onto the pot, a flaming stream of oil came out and shot towards Alto when he was getting up to his feet.

'This is bad, Alto can't handle heat on the strings if it's a liquid. Heck, he'll be griping at me if his fingers burn, I have to do something!' Gladyr thought in concern, as he took out a ball made of cast wrappings from his suitcase. "**Bloody** **Encasing**!" Grabbing a small strip, he tossed the bandage ball in front of the flaming liquid, which opened suddenly into a large bandage blanket. The liquid went into it, torching part of the bandages before Gladyr yanked hard to reconvert it into ball form. The air inside was extinguished, eliminating the flames of the oil and making it a harmless liquid. "It's all your show now, Captain! Show him what a true Naval Man can do!"

"Right. I owe you one, Gladyr." Alto grinned, giving the thumbs-up as he continued to strafe and strike again.

"You owe me at least 156 times this month already, you clod!" The unhappy doctor barked, as he reeled in the bandage ball. "This could be useful later on for handling our comrade. No telling what he's been through."

Mitch didn't seem too bothered, as the pan he wielded continued to burn upwards like a volcano, striking at the strings each time Alto moved his hand towards him. The smoke that it was giving off was also nasty, making Alto feel a bit queasy but not ready to give up.

'Can't use Double Hand techniques in here, we're too close to that fence. It's probably electrified using sawmill technology. I guess I'll have to use 'that' technique even though it's already in place.' Alto thought, catching his breath before moving away to avoid the flaming pot coming down upon him, then side-stepped a right thrust of the flame cone bursting at him. And yes, the fence was making tell-tale sparks.

3 more jabs, each one quickly avoided as Alto accurately measured and swerved to avoid getting burned. 'Almost...' Ducking down to dodge a forward sweep, then scuttled around, he jumped back a few feet to protect himself from another volley of fireballs.

'Almost...' A heavy plume of flames spewed out of Mitch's mouth, as he put his own cooking oil in his mouth and ignited it with a lit match. Alto winced, waving both hands in a circle to ward off the fire breath in the form of an invisible barrier but at the same time stung his fingers as a result.

That was when Mitch walked forward to press the attack when Alto smiled cruelly, making Mitch feel a bit insecure. 'Now!'

"Ultimate Style: **5 Finger Blender**!" He called out, pulling his left hand back hard even though he had been using his right hand against his opponent the whole time.

"Huh? Wh-what is this?" Mitch said, as numerous cuts began to appear along the outer sides of his legs, each one biting hard into the flesh. Inch by inch, the cuts crawled up until they reached the hips. That was when the two legs were amputated and cauterized, knocking the man over on his back as Alto smirked in amusement retracting the strings. "My legs! You've chopped them up like a T-Bone Steak!" He screamed in agony over the pain, dropping the pan onto the floor extinguishing the fire.

"That's what you get for hurting my men and throwing away people's lives. Who are you working for as a contractor? Answer me or I'll cut off your hands next." Alto said calmly, knowing that if he walked up to him, Mitch might still have fire breath in wait as a surprise attack.

"The guy who hired the Genova Corps?" Mitch blinked, and then went into a laughing fit in front of the crew who were currently aiming enough firepower to blow him into the next world towards him. "Moron! You can never reach HIS level of power! He makes CP8 look like a bunch of preschoolers! For he is the legendary Do-"

BOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG! Before anyone realized it, a 600 pound grand piano fell down and crushed the unfortunate man, killing him instantly before he could utter the name of the one in charge. Seamen looked around frantically, but due to the darkness, the perpetrator was nowhere to be seen. However, someone found a white handkerchief on the ground with a yellow W sewn into it.

"That was odd." Alto said, puzzled to where the piano came from. "And who the heck is Do? Honestly, I should have forced him to tell me before he was taken out."

"Just be glad you weren't close to him otherwise you would have been the one crushed, captain." Gladyr said, currently patching up the wounds and burns of the crew to the best of his ability.

"Unbelievable, all four of them taken out and the group only lost half it's men. These -----ing guys are superhuman." Gregory said under his breath as he dug through the piano pieces to locate the last key. "Hopefully I'll find you as well, brother..."

"Point taken. Anyway, my throat's a bit dry after moving so quickly. I might as well have my **Navy Lunchbox** now before I go on. Who's in charge of handling that?" Alto said, not listening to the guide at the moment. After all, once they got inside the building, Gregory was free to leave since he wouldn't be helpful in showing them around in a place he had never went inside.

"I do, Captain!" A young man with unruly black hair hobbled over to Alto on crotches, seeing that he had damaged his foot from stepping into a Coral Bush and nearly lost it. The box lunch was presented on bended knee, in honor of the victory over the four gatekeepers.

"Stand up, soldier. I ain't that kind of person. But thank you anyway. Gladyr, you're up." Alto said, opening the package in order to dig into the large package of lettuce with salad dressing, spinach with cheese, winter melon, peas/beans with butter, peanuts, fried onions, grilled carrots with brown sugar, sweet potato with butter, and cheese-covered broccoli. Simply put, he only ate meat on Sundays and veggies the rest of the week, so his eating habits were a bit odd.

"(sigh) If I must..." Gladyr groaned, his stiff back cracking as he walked towards the electric fence, as it was his time to handle the situation when their numbers were low and their captain drained of energy. 'What I'd do for a sponge bath right about now...'

--------------------------------------------------

Inside the Office...

"It seems that the Gatekeepers have been disposed of. How annoying." The Doctor said, as he knew that his boss was standing right behind his large comfy chair. The Den-Den Mushi was active, as there was a second hidden one watching and listening to the battle outside.

"No matter, they served their purpose in telling us what we need to look out for. The rest are merely commoners, no match for our forces."

"I see, so the plan is going ahead of schedule then?"

"Yes, the barrels are being sent incognito to the docks as we speak."

"Since that kid is there, he probably knows how the 4 keys work. I have sent for the Baka Wardens to ensure that none of the patients are 'rescued' by the Gandros Navy."

"Heh, those guys? Those six would take the crew out in a millisecond." The doctor said, turning to face a photo frame of six tall individuals in lightweight, brightly colored full body-suits of durable armor, with a silver 'motorcycle' helmet covering their face and head. 'But you know best, Director. And if they fail, I will end their journey short with my own support squad. Just you wait, I will defeat you!!!!'

* * *

**Timekeeper**-Ally of the Doctor, has a droning voice. Highly intelligent and has a unique power and gift. Once lived at a Clockwork Island. 

**Sharon**-The secretary, possesses a very strange power. Has no qualms about disposing of patient's dead bodies in the 'morgue' area.

**Front Wall Battalion Barrage**-A limitless amount of firepower, with quick reloading and firing. High accuracy as well but limited mobility and defense.

**Macage Repellent**-A mailman's best friend, in his case, it blinds and burns the face at a high rate unless treatment is administered.

**Holy Cross Formation**-A 4 pronged attack, even if the person dodges, there is a high chance of getting caught in the explosion's range.

**4 Finger Swat**-When the strings are unable to cut, this is Alto's way of adapting and sending people far off.

**Griller Cutter**-A attack that can cut through, well, a grill. Or humans, give or take the situation.

**Body Grease**-A high quantity of man-made body oil capable of squeezing through jail bars. Incapable of catching fire.

**Torso Wrap**-A confinement cast technique, which then constricts and deals a heavy amount of pressure upon a person. To put it lightly, it can snap a person's spine or damage the ribs.

**Spicy Mustard Gas**-A vapor that burns from the inside once breathed in, dries people up into pruned corpses.

**Sweet Relish Gas**-Simply put, it causes the victim to develop a nasty allegic reaction in which his body would blister at a astounding rate.

**Scorching Grill Shield**-A shift of tools, as the spatula is not a good barrier. The pot form, however, provides defensive and projectile ability.

**Hot Meatballs**-Fires off several dozen small fireballs in rapid succession, very low accuracy but stings like heck.

**Flavor Searing**-A large addition of cooking/body oil which would not only increase the range of the pot's flames but also send waves of fire upon others.

**Cooking Spreader**-A wave of fire that continously burns as the oil covers the body.

**Bloody Encasing**-A reinforced airless cast that can act as a prison for Logia-types that separate their body parts, can also be a powerful weapon if used properly.

**5 Finger Blender**-Alto's Signature attack, as it chops off limps and cauterizes them as to prevent bleeding. However, it is difficult to use on Logia/Paramercia types.

**Navy Lunchbox**-Little meat, lots of fruit and veggies. Perfect for suppling a lot of energy for someone who accels in agility, not strength.


	18. Protector of the Basement: It's a Trap!

Drode: Greetings once more, mortals! Sorry for the lateness, as I may have prodded my host author a bit too much...(looks at SH laying on the floor heavily bruised and soaked in blood) Anyway, not sure if the chapter turned out okay, but it is currently at his limit of pages. I also want to invite any who are interested to a grand OC One Piece tournament in the forums, in which you can use any new or old characters to fight with. There's a 32 person limit so some over when you can! Now, to bury the evidence...(summons a shovel and throws dirt on Super Hurricane rapidly) Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter up soon!

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, I would kick the butt of whoever invented the name "Loftrians" since that name makes no sense at all for a dub. Seriously, anyone can say Shandians normally but this new name is absurd! 

Ch 18

_"...Alto is a pervert..." "I am not, Requiem!" "...then die a moron..."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"This is why mom always told me, 'Son, if you join the Navy, you'll get a seizure.' Thanks a lot, mom. Well, at least she's on her coma deathbed awhile I pay her medical bills by risking my life." Gladyr said to himself, staring at the tall fence that surrounded the dome-like complex. "Damn you, mother, for cursing me with this gift..."

"Stop complaining and just touch the stupid thing already. Prelude currently has 2 hours and 15 minutes left, and the effects are getting worse." Alto said, snarfing up more veggies to relax his body a bit.

"Fine." Gladyr snorted, cracking his knuckles and then wincing over the unbearable pain that came with it due to stiffness. "But I know that I'll be losing sleep later on because of this."

Widening both hands as he approached the cracking pillars of metal, he pressed the palms upon it. That was when 2,000,000 million volts of electricity coursed through his body, turning him into a glowing X-Ray skeleton in the darkness. Even so, he failed to scream or even holler, waiting patiently as his body turned a faint green hue.

"...Ground Skin..." Requiem said under her breath, acknowledging Gladyr's ability despite him being weaker than her.

From what she read on him, he was the first man to survive a thunderstorm on an island covered by thin tall trees, as he was hit every time by numerous lightning bolts at the age of 36. Yet, despite the fact that he lost his eyebrows and lot of his body hair, which grew back later, he was perfectly fine and upset that his wig was on fire. Doctors called him a miracle, a human with a immunity to high voltage but could discharge small amounts in the form of static known as a "Ground Skin". He called it a curse and a stupid power that is reckless to his health. Regardless, the Navy seized his contract and extended it for a unknown amount of years for the purpose of using that power for the sake of justice.

Regardless, Gladyr hated being the guinea pig, and touching a electric barrier was the same as going to the dentist for fillings. His skin smoked, developing new burns over his old ones, but he was unhindered as every ounce of electricity was drained out of the wall.

'Despite it being powered by sawmills, Gladyr is known as the **Lightning Conductor**, so in a minute the electricity will fade away.' Alto thought, noting the look of twisted agony on the doctor's face as the remainder of the electrical power was drained.

Extending both hands by waving them a few times, the strings extended to full length covered with oil grease done in by that lousy fry cook. 'We'll have to find a towel inside to clean this up...' He thought, as Gladyr fell backwards when the last spark was sucked into him and grounded into nothingness. "Thanks, Gladyr. I'll take it on now. 3 Finger Cleave!" Snit! Snit! Snit! A portion of the steel wall was cut apart, formed into a 10 foot wide, 10 foot tall doorway.

'What the heck is this ------ty captain? First he can move at high speeds in short bursts, now he can cut down thick walls despite his strings being exposed to that much body grease?' Gregory thought, dumbfounded as the crew began to walk through the opening made. Then he recalled something important. "WAIT! Don't go in there just yet! Those monster dogs would tear you guys apart!"

Running in, he saw the crew petting the supposed monster dogs as they were snuggling up to them. Each of the creatures were dark blue, standing at 4 foot tall and covered by several layers of wool, baa-ing right and left as they grazed in the pasture of grass around the building. All of them had mouths that could cut through steel bars, but preferred the gentle taste of green acres and did look similar to dogs due to their muzzles and floppy ears.

"Monster dogs? These are **Browinski sheep**." Alto said, enjoying the fluffiness of the blue wool. "I heard that some people train these things to be vicious killers to attack wolves in large groups, but only if you display anger towards them or attack them directly."

"Ummmm...What's a sheep?" Gregory said, deep in thought as he was puzzled over that term. All but Requiem facevaulted as a result, the latter being licked gently on the hands since she was actually the one that calmed the guard sheep with her presence.

'Right...forgot that wharf fishermen don't have farms. Or schools.' Alto thought, rubbing the bloody bump on his forehead. Many, many more seamen also had bumps from hitting the hard floor in which Gladyr quickly administered treatment. "Anyways, no time for a zoology lesson. Prelude's ill and I hate the smell here. Just open the blasted door and we'll handle things from there."

"I have been inside the building you know. There isn't any maps for you to follow since the Aragonite Clinic is a maze of hallways and rooms." Gregory snapped, taking out all four keys and walked over to the right side wall. There was a single hole the size of a quarter that looked like it was painted over as to camouflage it. Carefully, he put in the 1st gatekeepers key, then pushed in the 2nd gatekeeper key, revealing that the two could 'lock' onto each other by a small magnetic force. The third and fourth keys were then connected to the 2nd key, in which Gregory turned it clockwise.

The ground shook as seamen could hear the sounds of gears rumbling beneath them. Without warning, 16 of them fell down screaming as a wide circular hole made of hidden trapdoor panels opened. There was also a long staircase leading out of the hole, with the crewmen sprawled on it dazed and hurting in various places.

"That's the main entrance. If you want to back out now, this is your chance. The people down there are way more ruthless than any ---hole pirate you're used to." The disgruntled fisherman said, holding the torch over the stairs since it was dark at the bottom.

He was met with intense stares and flexed biceps, each of the seamen battle-hardened and eager to face off against those that thrill them in combat. To a Marine, life is war and they were ready to die for the sake of protecting others to make a difference. Then, they marched right down into the hole 3 by 10, ready to plow down anyone in their path with their deadly firepower.

Requiem was the one in front, keeping them organized enough for each to fill up their ammunition chambers and clean out the barrel for clean shots. Gladyr walked in the middle, acting as support to heal up open wounds and amputate damaged limbs without drugs available (he realized his jar of pills was missing and blamed Alto for it, which ended up in a bickering conversation as they were led down the stone hallway by Gregory). And Alto was helping the crewmen apply new moist cloths to Prelude's forehead, concerned about her health and knowing that she would be the most likely to be attacked.

A minute later, the hole closed behind them, plunging the area into near darkness save for the torch. Several seamen squealed, taken back by the darkness as they feared the air would run out.

"This is the basement area, the 'maze' part of the building. Follow me closely as we navigate through this until we reach the Prison Room and the stairs to the first floor. If anyone strays into a dead end, go back immediately or a trap would be sprung within seconds." He said calmly as possible, as they went into a lime-green corridor that branched out into various hallways.

Left, left, right, straight, left, right, right, left, straight, straight, left, straight, left, right, right, left, straight, left, right, right, left, right, straight, left, straight, right, right, left, left, straight, left, each passage was a trail and error. Especially because of Alto, who kept setting off traps by himself accidentally. Not that he had a bad sense of direction, he was too far away from the torch light to see properly in the dark. And with tinted glasses and poor eyesight, that was usually a bad thing.

To run the traps through: boulders, vipers from underground, scorpions, arrows, poisoned arrows, colliding logs, moving walls, nearly falling into pitfalls, normal humans with glow-in-the-dark paint to make them look like frightening skeletons (he tore those apart without thinking, luckily they were Genova Corp personnel), moving flamethrowers, dart launchers, the room of whipping towels, falling debris and so on. Alto, when he caught up to the group, was short on breath and his butt was stinging from the towel lashes. 'I hadn't felt this bad since we rented out that locker room for Hockey Night...' He thought, glad that he didn't suffer any severe injuries.

The rest of the trip through the maze was uneventful, as Alto held on tight to Prelude's stretcher despite protests from the men not to disturb her. As usual, the captain ignored the warnings and found Prelude's hand grabbing his arm and tightening it like a vise. Clutching his teeth, Alto knew that if he screamed like a sissy girl or passed out, the morale of the troops would decrease. Not that they had morale to begin with, but he liked to think so.

Upon exiting the maze, Alto could finally see light at the end of it, breathing a sigh of relief. Carefully releasing each bone-crunching finger from his hand, he noticed that the wrist was bent inward by an inch.

The room interior was made completely of emeralds, gleaming brilliantly from the mounted lit lamps around it. Some of the seamen brought out picks in order to chip away at it for forensic evidence as well as greed, but Alto warned them not to dig in too deep or the basement would break apart.

"Oy, oy! Who's making a ruckus down here? Michael, are you trying to steal my precious gems again!" A bellowing voice called out, stopping the seamen in their tracks. From behind the staircase, a small wooden door opened slowly as a 6'2" tall man with long red-dyed hair made into dreadlocks and narrowed yellow eyes came out with a lantern. His skin blended into the darkness of the room, dark brown to be exact, and his ears were long (5 inches more than a normal persons) and pointed. He wore a skin-tight leotard covering legs and body, with pointed shoes and a blue tunic vest.

"AIIIIIIIIEEEEEE! It's a **Dark Elf**! Get out the crosses before it curses us with eternal bad luck!" Alto yelled, his eyes widened in panic. Obviously he was a reader of old myths around the globe.

"A what now? And wait, ain't you those Navy folk? There's more of you then usual." The 'dark elf' said, displeased by the numbers pitted against him. "You must be the intruders the boss told me about. Doesn't matter to me." Bringing out a bottle of grog, he chugged what was left into his throat and then smashed half of it into the door to break it and tossed it into the crowd only for one of them to slice it to pieces by his saber.

"Get ready to fire, men. If he gets in our way, take him down!" Gladyr ordered, since Alto was a bit too nervous to direct a attack himself.

"**Link Link Bind**..." The Dark Elf said quietly, as a flesh-colored chain appeared around his left arm and was sent out towards the nearest seamen. The unfortunate soldier brought out his saber, cutting and slashing away at the chain that seemed to have a will of it's own. Once the sword struck the chain, a small cut appeared on the Dark Elf's arm and the chain began to wrap around the saber at a very rapid rate.

The seamen tried to drop his saber, but the chain had pierced into his hand before he could let go and continued to move throughout his body. "My name is Gon Hamat, the guardian of the Basement Area. Despite my appearance, it is a result of high level plastic surgery and the fact that I am of African descent."

The Seaman recruit screamed, as the same cut that was on Gon's arm appeared on his, only it was twice as deep and heavily bleeding. The wound Gon had vanished as well as the flesh chain "And my power is **Link Link**, which allows me to transfer all body damage into others and hurt them at the same time. Allow me to demonstrate further." Bringing out a curved dagger from his pants leg, he repeatedly stabbed himself in the legs, nearly knocking his balance off. "**Link Link Swap**!"

Aiming his weaponless hand, he pointed at a few seamen who were aiming their guns at him. "**Link Link Legion**!" 8 flesh chains spread out of his palm, just as they fired rapidly with their muskets delivering several bullet wounds into his chest and face. The chains glowed as they wrapped around the closest seamen, not only severely ripping up their leg but also received the bullet wounds as well without the bullets. Gon, on the other hand, was perfectly fine as even the bullets were removed. "You'd best give up now, or you'll end up on display like many of the people that had come here before you challenging the clinic."

The room became a lot brighter all of a sudden, due to Gon pulling a switch with a chain which came out of his back. Emergency back-up power was suddenly reset, turning on the fluorescent lighting that shocked many of the seamen unused to high levels of technology. What appeared to be normal emeralds were false, as they seemed more like normal crystals painted green, and inside several feet in, were people. Navy men and bounty hunters to be exact, all of which looked like they were reaching out and gasping for air before death took them.

"It's interesting, isn't it? It's like a fly dropped into a ice cube tray full of water and then placed into the freezer for ten minutes. I think of this as the Trophy Room for defeating those who couldn't get past the Wardens." Gon smirked, but his pride was torn as Alto suddenly came in front of him, grabbed the neck of his shirt and then heaved him as if he was as light as a pebble towards the green stoned wall.

"**Jijutsu Art: Coconut Collision**." Alto said coldly, even though four chains shot out of Gon's palms and 'connected' into the chests of a few sailors, just as Gon's skull shattered on impact. However, in a matter of seconds, the seamen suffered severe head injuries and fainted, and Gon cracked his fingers getting up. Whatever damage he took faded away including head trauma and the dizziness.

"Was that your best? I bet you can't even throw a punch. Link Link Knuckle-Guard" Gon said, as chains formed around his hands to act for shields.

"That's true, I can't." Alto said calmly, yet truthfully as he sized up his opponent. 'I have to take him out quickly before anyone else gets hurt. That technique should work now that I can see better.' With a darting flick of the wrist, he shot out all 5 strings at maximum length (10 feet) to rake the guy in half.

Gon's eyes widened as he could sense an unknown force coming straight at him, nimbly leaping and somersaulting to get out of range. "Whoa!" He said in shock, due to the deep crevices that sliced through the gemstone wall as if it was made of cardboard. "That was close. In a way, that explains those 'fate' rumors I've heard so much about, a invisible weapon that cleaves through a person without them bleeding, as it was destined to be. **Link Link Quarter-Pounder**!" Numerous chains emerged out of his hands; each with a 4 lb weight attached to the ends.

"And you had a trump card as well, those ears of yours. I heard there was a new cell surgery that alters the body faster than a Zoan transformation. Those ears are probably a hundred times better than mine." Alto said, now using both hands and flinging the lethal bladed strings at his opponent and Gon did the same.

Even though the strings were hard to see, Gon's ears helped him predict the motions of each string in which his weighted chains reflected or warded off the attack dealing multiple cuts all over his body. However, none of them bled out due to the speed of the slashes. The other targeted each others vital spots, swerving and jumping to avoid the mid-range weapon, not letting up a bit on their frantic barrage. Two direct hits by the weighted chains hit Alto's legs but not enough to deal heavy injury.

Even if he managed to get a string close-in, Gon 'punched it' away with his protected fists, then nailed him a few times in the gut. Alto shook it off, trying to slap the legs only for his opponent to jump over it like a jump rope, firing off numerous chains that were countered by the strings on his left hand, making it a fast-paced battle even though the two were moving at normal speeds.

'There's not a lot of time to make a Double Hand technique. I'll have to think of a way to find an opening.' Alto thought, moving quickly to dodge a fast whip that shattered part of the floor, then retaliated with several slashes that were blocked by dozens of new chains pouring out of Gon's arm. By now, his opponent looked like he'd been through a wheat shredder.

"You can't dodge them all! I'll make you suffer for eternity for making me look nasty!" Gon said, flinging both arms upwards as the chains merged with each other, taking a 'worm' like shape which came down towards Alto. "**Link Link Hookshot**!" The chains widened a hole in the center, large enough to engulf Alto and then crush him under hundreds of pounds of combined pressure when tightened.

"If that's the way you want to play it, fine! 1 Finger Zipline!" The staircase behind Gon cracked, as a small hole was pierced through. Alto was then violently yanked off his feet, then vanished before Gon's eyes.

WHAMM! Before he could turn his chain monster on the others, Alto's fist collided with his face at high speed, breaking his nose and sending the madman into the wall spiraling in mid-air along with his chains slowly being sucked back into his arms. Alto, on the other hand, crashed into the staircase and went right through it on the other side, dazed and full of pain all over his body due to breaking through head-first.

"That...was cool...uggghh..." He said, slowly getting up to his feet despite the aches of his sore muscles and bones. Rest would come later, he had to find his comrade first before worrying about the state of his health.

"Captain!" Many concerned seamen rushed over, massaging the sore spots and applying cream over the cuts endured. Others brought out ice cubes to reduce the swelling, checked to make sure the hands weren't damaged and helped him stand up all the way. Those in the carpeting department patched up the Alto-shaped hole in the stairs using the gems and various items on the floor, as two strong seamen helped Alto get his bearings.

"Okay, that's enough messing around." Gladyr said, as he had stiffened Gon's arms and legs into a thick plaster body cast, as he head had been trapped in the wall. Due to the Link Link power, he didn't have to breath to begin with yet with his limbs unable to move or create new chains. The weird doctor even added a small piece of seastone to ensure that Gon couldn't escape easily. "I could kill you, Gonzales "The Missing Link" Hamat, but that would mean a 30 percent cut out of your 34 million bounty. So just lie there knowing that you are responsible and will be beheaded for your crimes after we come back." Gladyr then snapped two thick seastone handcuffs on his non-casted elbows and knees to make sure the prisoner wasn't going anywhere.

"I...I'm okay, guys. Geez, my hand hurts like heck." Alto said, feeling a bit better with the crowd surrounding him. However, he was feeling rather warm and dizzy from lack of space and oxygen. 'That guy...his face had chains around it at the last second. If I hadn't used a Double Hand Glove in my other hand, my fingers would be broken in an instant.'

"...Form up..." Requiem said coldly, as the seamen rushed over to her side in a trance, captivated by her voice. Alto breathed a sigh of relief that Requiem was taking charge, dusting off his shorts and walked around to climb up the stairwell.

"Okay, men! We have met the enemy, and he must be extremely powerful to put normal humans inside these walls. Now, I want Saber Crews guarding Prelude in the back, and Riflemen in the front. Medic and Carpentry teams in the center. Assembly teams stay close to Requiem and Gladyr. I'm going to bear the wounds right now so there's no need to put bandages or add some special scrum in me. Gregory, you lead." Alto ordered, pointing and making several hand motions to organize the masses into selected groups. As a captain, he was expected to know some forms of strategy in order to handle large armies of pirates.

"Ah, sure..." Gregory sweated, feeling the pressure weighing on his shoulders as he began to lead them up the stairs, putting out the torch now the the lights were on. 'This is bad. We are going to get slaughtered if that's his best.' He thought, becoming nervous and uneasy about the ordeal.

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Luxurious, that was the term to describe the area around her. She had opened her eyes two seconds after collapsing from the poison in her system, her mouth in awe at the tremendous waterfall nearby. She was in a brilliantly crafted room, consisting of a vast rectangular hall made almost entirely out of shining white marble, or some material like it, which glistened and seemed to radiate its own light. Twisting pillars with vines carved into them reached to the vaulted ceiling high above, which was painted to look like a starry sky.

Behind her was an archway opening into an empty darkness. At the other end of the hall was an enormous ornate white double door with small stained glass windows near the pointed top and large golden handles halfway down its length. It would take a giant to open that door, for its hinges alone were as tall as Alto (5'4"). What was even more amazing that that this room was perched on the Bridge of Hesitation, with the Gates of Justice nearby a hundred feet away.

"Beautiful..." Her eyes shone, amazed by the architecture and the sparking light that danced all around her. Never had she laid her eyes on such careful workmanship, even their top shipwright couldn't make something like this without accidentally destroying it in under a second.

"I wonder if these things are worth anything." She wondered, walking over to inspect the gold door handles. WHAMM! Without any warning, she was struck hard in the chest by a large metal baseball bat and sent crashing into the nearest wall, cratering it on impact. She groaned, suddenly sore and in deep pain from the hit but got up anyway.

Standing several feet in front of her was a young woman in her 20's, thin, with smooth curves and bouncy curled green hair with dozens of needles protruding through her skull. She wore a long one-piece silk white dress with three black crosses, with long sleeves that went down to the floor presumably to hide weapons. Her emerald green eyes were filled with cunning and bloodlust, her tongue licking her lips with the thrill of battle. Her face looked crusty and badly burnt, though. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't let you mess with that place. I am Agatha Slann, also known as "Dreamweaver", one of the 5 **Surgeon Generals** of the Clinic. And you must be my latest victim."

"Agatha? The woman who dropped off the face of the planet? The one worth 120 million? You're that Agatha?" Prelude said, taking out her two flare revolvers and fired a few rounds at her face without thinking. After all, someone with that bounty was definitely worth destroying.

Agatha nodded, grinning slightly as two flare bullets went right through her and destroyed a small portion of the wall. "Silly dear, I'm a immortal, due to the power of the Dream Dream fruit. Without a body, I am a wandering spirit that can manipulate the dreamworld. And even kill them within this dimension."

"No Devil Fruit is that powerful, I know that for a fact. You're just bluffing."

"Am I now?" The young woman said, revealing her right arm which had 3 foot long fingers with razor sharp nails and colored purple with yellow polka dots. "**Dream Dream Rip**!" Slashing at air, a thin multi-colored tear appeared before her in which she dug the claw hand inside of it.

Grunting a little, Agatha pulled hard on whatever was on the other end like her life depended on it, sweat forming on her forehead. "**Dream Dream Ensnare**!" She yelled, as she pulled hard on whatever was on the other side, revealing that underneath her clothing parts of her body were also colored the same as her arm. "RRRRAGGGH!"

With one final tug, she pulled out a naked dead body with silver and blond hair and threw it upon the floor. The rip in the dreamscape suddenly closed when her hand was taken out, allowing her the satisfaction of accomplishing her goal. "It's said that when a person dreams, those that they dream about in their adventures are made from memory. When the person is awaken, that memory slowly fades away back into a small part of their mind, unable to reappear for what seems like months or years. You haven't dreamed much about this person in years I take it, now reduced to a Remnant Core. And now, he is mine to command."

"Wait! Don't touch him!" Prelude said shakily, recognizing the form at once.

"Too late." A devilish smile curled on Agatha's face as a green, misty orb shot out of the gruesomely long hand towards the prone corpse. "**Dream Dream Reanimation**!"

Once the orb struck the body, it was covered over by a dark, sinister glow that shook the foundation of the dreamworld and nearly knocked Prelude off her feet. The corpse twitched, then moved on it's own to unclench his fists to push the upper body forward in order for the legs to rise.

"He-hello, Prelude." The person said, attempting to speak normally since the last time he had spoken to her was 4 years ago in the dreamscape. Prelude's eyes watered happily, feeling a warm feeling in her chest when seeing him with those bishie sparkles surrounding him and his sculptured muscular body. "You look well."

"Yes. I've been exercising non-stop. It's nice to see you too, Nocturne, Rank 1 of the **Dark Union Quintet**." She blushed, due to the comforting gaze of passion that he gave her. "Umm...can you put on a shirt? Or underwear? You're making me flushed seeing you like this."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on. However, I have a lot of patients that require me to brainwash in order to turn them into dogs of war for my Master. **Dream Dream ReCommand**!" Agatha's eyes turned a crimson red, as the aura surrounding Nocturne turned gray. His thoughts became her thoughts, allowing her to manipulate him to the fullest extent of her ability.

"Come at me with whatever weapon you can think up, but know that he will stand in!" In Nocturne's right hand, the Necrofain appeared in a poof of smoke ready to destroy anything in it's path.

"That's fine by me. It's sorta like our **Senior Prom** all over again at the Academy." Prelude said proudly, spinning both revolvers in order to reload on flares.

"I will kill you in the swiftest way possible, using Raizen's succession technique." Nocturne said in a hollow, chilling voice as the foundation began to crack around them from the rapidly increasing killing ki.

"Bring it on." She said, charging right in with flare guns blazing, grinning wildly with the thrill of battle pumping adrenaline in her veins.

"Legionnaire Power/Eyemeld: Night World!" He said proudly, pointing the sword upwards with both hands towards the sky. The light vanished from Prelude's sight, resulting in seeing everything in black and white like a old Navy film strip. The items in white were the swords lining up in rows surrounding the two, hundreds, no, thousands of them itching to draw blood. Some of them were massive enough to cleave through a Sea King, others small enough to cut through a piece of tuna without damaging the skin. The very dream world was engulfed in the darkness of reality, which meant that whatever damage she took would affect her physical body if she woke up.

'This is one of his signature attacks, a power that can destroy armadas of Pirate Ships. However, as a drawback, his sword is currently at it's weakest so all I need to do it cut it with a sawblade when close enough.' She thought, blasting away 8 separate flare bullets to draw his attention. At the same time, she counted her Saw ammo bag and frowned at the shortage of decent sawblades. 'Only 5? How boring...'

With a single swipe of his sword, Necrofain extinguished the flares in mid-flight due to the large whip of blades protruding from the walls of the dream world. Several more protruded outwards, becoming large tentacles capable of cutting her clothing into rags.

"Legionnaire Power: Absolute Mayhem." He said calmly, as the whip of swords merged with Necrofain and increased it's length and width. With a fierce lunge, the whip sword went towards her at a dazzling speed, in which she jumped on top of it seconds before it could strike her.

Her shoes were badly torn as a result as she ran across the long blade, firing her guns to target various weak points in the sword's joints. Unfortunately, that's when Noctune curved the whip sword, turning it into a deadly cycle of loop-de-loops. "**Spiral of Indecision**!"

'Gotta be quick yet agile.' She thought, flipping and jumping through the different hoops just before they closed to cut her apart. Flares wouldn't do much against this new attack as it provided Nocturne defense against long range attacks simply by folding in the loops to rip them to shreds.

'Don't worry, Nocturne, I'll save you! But first, who the heck will save me from that woman?' She thought out of panic, as Agatha came from behind with a terrifying razor-teethed jaw that could chew up a cow, her legs now a serpent-like Naga tail that slivered on the ground.

"Submit or be eaten!!!!" The woman yelled, screeching for Prelude's blood as the battle went underway for her freedom.

----------------------

In the Office...

'Agatha, you truly are a wonderful genius. Half the patients we're received so far have shown true improvement when their free will is suppressed by your methods.' The Doctor thought, looking over the hundreds of open files for the Clinic. 'If only Jester and Timekeeper were like you, we would have more obedient hamsters for me to test on.'

"Beep! Beep! Call for you! Call for you!" The Den-Den Mushi shouted out, in which he pressed the Two-Way Intercom function as to keep his hands free. No sense in not being prepared should a assassin barge in.

"What is it? I already received the reports on Gonzale's failure, so I had the Baka Wardens set up their battle fields ahead of time." He said calmly, fiddling with a bloody scalpel which carried a very potent bacteria capable of wiping out a small village in one hand. There was heavy gunfire and explosions on the other end, which the snail attempted to mimic as a panicked voice spoke through it.

"Sir! This is Jeff from Signa Squad Division 17! We've got trouble!"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, curious as to why someone like the Cleanup Squad would have difficulty removing the corpses of the Gatekeepers. "What seems to be the problem?"

"It seems one of them has been left behind, sir! We had arrived 5 minutes ago to find a young girl in Navy Clothing exiting a heavy backpack and chewing on the arm of the 4th Gatekeeper! No lie!"

"And this requires effort, why?"

"Sir! We had surrounded the target and ordered her to release the dead body. She killed our Squad Leader in an instant, sir!"

"How is that possible? No human can go at that speed."

"She had thrown some sort of weapon at him, sir! By the time we got to him, the Hippo had chomped him in half! It was awful, sir!"

"Hippo? I thought you said she was alone."

"We did, Sir! It just came out of nowhere, with a long metal stick poking out of it's back! The thing began to gore soldiers left and right, and since we were only using low budget rifles, the bullets didn't affect it much except for irritating it's skin. The girl was even worse!"

"How so?"

"Her arm, it just morphed!"

"So? Is she a Paramecia or a Logia-type then?"

"Neither! It's all hairy and black, with a large clawed hand that crushed two of the guard dogs! She's ripping them to shreds with only one arm going at a wild speed! It even crushed many of our rifles and gutted many of our men! We're getting slaughtered here!"

"I'll send more men to aid you, use tranquilizers to subdue her."

"What the ---- do you think we're been doing? The stuff seems only to get her more crazy! Send in a Baka Ward-" CRASSSSSSH!

Without warning, the entire complex shuddered and shook from a colossal explosion, knocking the Doctor off his chair and dropped the scalpel in the wastebasket. His desk flipped over, the martinis splashed and lights all over the complex dimmed from the powerful 'earthquake' that rocked the cavern.

"Ow..." He muttered, rubbing the back of his sore head upon colliding with the wall, then rose back up to speak to the Den-Den Mushi. "Soldier, report! What was that?"

"Sir! The hippo had turned into a giant hammer that the girl picked up and whacked it against the side of the building! I'm looking at a 5 foot wide hole in the Titanium Wall, sir, she just jumped right through!" The soldier said loudly over debris falling and gunfire. "I've never seen something like this happen before!"

"And never will you ever again." The Doctor whispered, growing a wicked smile on his face over the possibility of capturing such a rare find.

"I'm sorry? What?"

"Never mind! Follow her in and capture her alive! I don't care what it takes or how many will die, just do it!" With that, he shut off the intercom function before the soldier could protest out of fear.

"It seems we finally got a Pure One, hey, doc?" Jester said, appearing right next to him, startling the man and knocking the Den-Den Mushi on the floor.

"Jester, as much as I am glad to see that you made it here okay, you should use the door. And it's obvious that she is the one besides the captain suitable for the Pure Experiment. After all, she must not be able to control her Zoan form, thus she is Pure. I want you to retrieve her along with the Wardens, and you will receive a large paycheck for your efforts." The Doctor said, waving a long blank check in front of the crazy lunatic whose head bobbed up and down.

"Consider it done, Doctor." Jester said, bowing down before vanishing into thin air and out of the office.

"Heh...everything is going to plan, Emperor Atos. Judgment over the vermin will soon commence." The Doctor snickered, switching on a light to reveal a 12 foot tall cylinder container with numerous pipes laid out and spewing blood on the floor by the gallon. "All for the sake of A.R.K.."

* * *

**Lightning Conductor**-The true title of Gladyr. So far, no one has taken his place due to a prolonged contract. Even he can't remember what his real name is anymore. 

**Browinski sheep**-Sheep that were trained to be attack dogs, their jaws are capable of crushing rocks with their teeth. However, they are only hostile if their foe acts mean towards them and then jump upon him/her in hordes to devour his flesh. They are actually carnivores but like to eat grass afterwards to freshen their breath.

**Dark Elf**-A mystic race gifted with the power to make evil curses, but tend to attack humans for no reason.

**Link Link Bind**-If the chain is hit, the user can sent the minor pain and then amplify the damage to the victim.

**Link Link**-A deadly Devil Fruit that can 'link' two or more people together through chains that cannot be destroyed. Any damage taken can be sent to those with the chain attached to them, but isn't very strong combat–wise. Attacking the chain itself hurts the user, making it a double-edged ability.

**Link Link Swap**-Allows the user to first damage himself, then gives the wounds he inflicted into those whom the chains connect to.

**Link Link Legion**-Can deliver portions of the same battle damage to many people, which in turn heals the user quickly.

**Jijutsu Art: Coconut Collision**-Due to jijutsu training (lifting heavier and heavier statues each day), he can lift heavy opponents and throw them pretty hard. This move requires a wall to slam the head at for instant knock-out.

**Link Link Knuckle-Guard**-A protective shield of indestructible chains to prevent the arms from being cut off, awhile allowing link chains to be fired off from his hands.

**Link Link Quarter-Pounder**-Although it doesn't transfer pain and battle damage, the attack is highly durable and can deal heavy blows.

**Surgeon Generals**-Jester, Doctor, Timekeeper, Dreamweaver and one more unknown person fall in this category. They work at different portions of the clinic and all have extremely high bounties.

**Dream Dream**-Although it gives the user to go inside the dreams of others, in return it removes the body. Thus the spirit is free to move about and control dreams of others, and even force them to have daydreams so she can terrorize them to the point of a heart attack. Also allows the user to take on different forms of the victim's fears.

**Dark Union Quintet**-Awhile Prelude is Rank 5, Nocturne is Rank 1. The reason why it's called "Dark" is because those in the Quintet failed to unionize like most Marines, which is why they can't negotiate new salaries and contracts.

**Dream Dream Rip**-Can slice into a 'memory' cell to look at those most dear to a person and then take them out.

**Dream Dream Ensnare**-Steals a piece of a dream and gives it a form of something powerful.

**Dream Dream Reanimation**-Restarts the 'memory remnant" as no two dreams are alike.

**Dream Dream ReCommand**-Although it is technically Prelude's dream, the Dream Dream power can override the personality and set a new command. Mainly to 'kill' the one sleeping.

**Senior Prom**-Yes, even the Navy gets a Senior Prom in the Academy. Of course, the prom was nearly destroyed as those two danced to their own beat. Over 50 students were hostipalized and dozens more were injured during their dance-a-thon.

**Spiral of Indecision**-Simply put, you hesitate, you lose your arms and legs. Easy to jump around, but due to the twirling, it is hard to dodge without getting cut.


	19. Inflitration or Divide and Conquer? Heh

Drode: (teleports in with a bloody shovel) Okay, hitting my boss with this primitive monkey tool did not speed up his typing speed. But as a result, since the chapters a bit short, the fights will be longer for the other chapters. Let's see...2 fights per chapter? That should be enough to satisfy your need for violence. So enjoy yourselves awhile I look for that so-called "Monster Hunter" manga that Hiro Mashima that I can't seem to find online...(teleports away)

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but if I did, I would wonder how the heck that letter got set on fire and not burn Luffy's hat. 

Ch 19

_"Time. Space. Dimensions. Reality. Long ago, 122 years to be exact, there was a single Yonkou ruling the 'New World' with a power beyond limits and his name...was Atos."_

_3 minutes ago..._

"The halls are trumpeting with the voice of freedom, we must quell their hopes and dash their dreams." A young man in a dark black bodysuit with a plastic helmet with visor said, twirling a One-sided Ax which converted into a high-powered Gatling gun (with the ax part as the trigger handle).

"Those who defy the rules of the Clinic are subject to the Pure Testing, any who oppose it shall be taken out with a claw of fury." A young woman in her late 20s said, wearing a light red bodysuit and matching helmet. She wielded a double-edged dual sword that could combine and act as a shield.

"Even these with courage falter under the Clinic's guardians, for every human is mere garbage before our might." Another young woman, a bit younger than the other, sneered as she spun her 1 foot long sais in front of her.

"Law of the Jungle, respect your betters and you shall live to see another day!" A tall man in a blue armored bodysuit said proudly, holding up a three-pronged lance capable of impaling a Truck engine.

"RAWR!!!!" (I'm hungry...) A grey feathered albatross with a green-painted head crowed, flapping down to perch on the light red woman's shoulder.

"We will weed out the weak in order to train the strong, none of you are even close to our level!" A average sized man with a long halberd sword grinned, thrusting and parrying with expert precison.

"Black Warden!" The man in black posed by putting his arms out in front of his face, awhile bending his legs halfway.

"Pink Warden!" The woman in light red posed by outstretching her arms, raising her head upwards for cawing out.

"Yellow Warden!" The woman in yellow roared, crouching down so her two legs and her right hand touched the floor, her left clawing at the air.

"Blue Warden!" The man in blue grunted, placing both hands on his head out front on each side and scuffled the floor running in place.

"RAWR!" (Still hungry!) The Albatross screeched, causing many nearby to cover their ears in pain.

"And I'm the Red Warden!" The man in dark red roared even louder, bending his back forward with his head out in front, awhile moving his arms inward to shorten their length.

"And we're...the **Baka Wardens**! Your Executors and Protectors!" All together, the six posed their different forms on the stone platform before the masses in the cafeteria area, just as 6 different plumes of colored smoke spewed out behind them. Every 6 hours, the patients had to endure watching the six put on the same show day after day. It had gotten to the point that the jokes were stale, the slapstick comedy dulled and even the magic show had lost the spark. The cafeteria itself could run up to 400 people at a time, with bolted down tables and plastic non-threatening forks and spoons, and it was cast in a depressing atmosphere of gloom. Who will be the next to die was on everyone's mind.

Of course, if they didn't laugh or applaud, most likely the guards will find them 'impure' and tranquilize them for the "Test". Running was impossible with their legs bound by seastone chains and cuffs. Attached to each leg cuff was a miniature grenade primed to detonate by remote, made by a strange Devil Fruit user allied with Genova Corp.

"Thank you, thank you!" Red Warden said, bowing down to meet the applause, only to get kicked in the butt by Pink Warden and fell off the stage. Those who laughed at his expense were tranquilized and taken away, as there is zero tolerance for those who fail to obey the 30 foot long scroll of rules that make up the Clinic.

One of those among the crowds was the mutant creature, being escorted by 16 armed guards in front, back and both sides. Each had a baton covered with coral spores, capable of numbing his bodily functions for a few minutes. He despised the humans that captured him more than ever, including the woman who kept forcing him to kill his comrades in his sleep in order to wake up again. People whispered rumors about him as he walked past grunting, further bothering him since he wasn't exactly friendly looking.

The gruel slop was surprisingly good today, since the chef put in some salt on it to improve the flavor: a rare spice that everyone hated him for not sharing. A certain rumor was that those who failed the Pure Test were baked alive, but to him, that rumor was absurd. At best, he could taste only lamb and cabbage in the gruel mixed together but with the stupid mask clamping his jaw shut, he couldn't say anything normal. The hardtack was also favorable to his liking, since it was a delicacy among his comrades when not eating vegetables thanks to that blasted cook.

BOOOOOM! That was when the earthquake hit, rattling the very foundation of the complex. Soldiers scrambled all over the place, firing warning shots at anyone who attempted to move from their tables. The overhead lights shook a few times, blinking on and off and the trays spilled over on nearby seats, causing a bit of chaos in the mess hall. It was calmed down in a matter of minutes though, and at least 20 people were taken back to their rooms for misconduct.

The masked creature was immediately forced out of his seat by the armed guards, the chains around his elbows/knees/waist yanked hard before he could struggle. As a Class R patient, he was one of the few who had no rights at all since he failed to submit willingly. That, and he was incapable of doing the Pure Test. Still, even as he was being led down the hallway back to his padded cell, he could hear the thumping of hundreds of soldiers moving in a panicked fashion. Which meant one thing: a breakout. Even the Baka Wardens, who were to begin their daily slapstick comedy routine, were gone which explained why it was so quiet.

'If there's a chance of escape, I'll kill the first person who opens the door. One of my spine tendrils is currently regrowing at a faster rate than the others so I'll take out the guard and steal the key to loosen these girders. And then, the killing of those pirate bastards will commence...' He thought, biding his time thrown hard into the cell face-first.

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_Present time_

"You hear that?" A guard manning his post near the supply closet asked his senior officer currently poking at his cheek.

"I dunno what I should be hearing." His senior shrugged, getting out a spare ammunition clip for his clunky hand-made sub-machine gun and put it in. "Relax, the earthquake was a passing thing on this island. If there was a problem, the higher-ups would have told us to be on the lookout."

"I suppose so. By the way, are you a guy or a girl? With all the body armor and the one-way helmet visors, I can't tell the difference anymore." The guard said, looking down at the floor.

"What are you, 5? I'm obviously a gu-UUUUURK!" Before the senior guard could mock him, his throat was cleaved in half so cleanly that he gurged on his own saliva and died.

"Senior? Senior!" The guard nearly wet his pants as the head rolled towards him, leaving a trail of blood in it's wake. He then glanced to the big red button that was near the closet, wired to send a shrill sound which would cause 50 armed guards to come over to assist. However, there was no sign of the assailant and the penalty of pulling a alarm wihout proof would be re-education and confinement for 60 days.

"Screw it, it's worth the risk!" He almost shouted, sweating a bit out of fear. Turning around with arm raised to strike the button, he was taken off guard by the white blanket coming from the right side.

"**Tortilla Casting**!" The Plaster Cast covered him over and sent him into the wall hard enough to rattle his skull on impact, then hardened quickly within seconds. There was a faint imprint of him gasping for air, stuck to the wall in such a undignified manner.

SMACK! Gladyr and Alto high-fived each other, hidden in the shadows of a nearby hallway. Being close, Alto side-swiped the closest guard and Gladyr followed up with his cast projectile, since Alto wanted to find out what sort of alarms were installed due to Gregory's 'inside' information. The rest of the squad were in the back, but now flooded out of the hallway into the supply closet.

As Navy Officers, when confronting a hostile organization with no chance of back-up and short on manpower, the best way to take it down is infiltration. Without a picture, the guards would simply accept them as their own, since the interrogation specialists in the group would force those captured silently to spill all they know about the complex and how to move about without being noticed as odd. This method had a 95 chance of success, provided no one screwed up (Alto was thrown a bunch of dirty looks from those not entirely trusting in him). Destroying the alarms and disabling any possible armories was part of the tasks given, plus disposing of the bodies and allowing Requiem to purify their spirits to protect them from possible curses of the afterlife.

Although it was a tight fit for some for the men (they accidentally wore the female body armor), Alto, Requiem and Gladyr enjoyed the comfortable feeling of being protected against revolver weaponry (save Requiem since she could pluck the freaking bullets inches in front of her face and toss them since they were light-weight metal items). Still, even with the one-way visor, Requiem was as placid as ever and impatient to get the job over with. Gregory placed his torch hammer in the closet for safe-keeping putting on the body armor to disguise himself and packed a coral baton for self-defense.

"Okay, guys.' Alto whispered, gathering the group close once everyone had found a uniform to wear. "There's the battle plan. I want teams of 5 to search the complex for our comrade, the suits and the information we forced out of our captives (even though it wasn't much) should make it easy for you to blend in. For some odd reason, the cells can only be opened if the guard touches the door of it. Which means the cell bars only react to a specific hand print. Which means that if you find him, immediately kill the guards and chop off their arm to open the door wide. If we hear a explosion or heavy yelling, the rest of us will began freeing the others in the building floor by floor. Prelude will be in the care of the Sniper Squad who will be in charge of finding the antidote. Since you guys have some minor first aid training, injecting her with a life-saving fluid would be a breeze."

"Requiem, you will head 12 separate groups and locate the power source of the building."

"And Gladyr, you lead 25 groups that will slowly pick off the soldiers and possibly the ones who run this place. As for me, I'll stick with Gregory looking for our Nakama. Do your best, men! Now fall out and commence Operation Viral Hospital!"

"Yes, sir!" With that, the large naval army vanished into the darkness of the halls leaving Alto and Gregory alone.

"Let's get this ----ing thing over with." The irritated fisherman growled, leading the way over to the Prison Yard with Alto following behind, ever watching for sneak attacks or a kamikaze agent with dynamite wired to go off. Yes, he is that paranoid.

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"Dun dun...dun dun...dun dun dun...dun..dun dun dun!" Crescendo said to himself quietly, licking her palm of blood after killing a guard. It was so easy for her to sense his heartbeat on the other side of the wall, in which she tore right through it as if it was cardboard, impaling his heart and lungs with 3 foot long, 6 inch wide 'dagger'-like finger claws. He crumbled like a soggy paper bag once the enormous hand squeezed inward, and once undressed, fed to Hoppi's open mouth.

Hoppi, aka the infamous Hippo Mallet, followed behind her with a large cardboard box over his body. As a hammer given life by the **Hippo Hippo **fruit (SH: sadly I couldn't find much reference of the largest of the species), Hoppi could eat all it wanted and still want more. Even though it was heavy, over 3 tons to be exact, he was light on his feet sneaking past those walking by. Then gnawed them apart like a dog with a chew toy, using it's massive jaw to crunch it's victim all the way to the bone.

Crescendo enjoyed the thrill of killing, a natural berserker who could attack secretly without a alarm being raised. However, the huge black and furry arm dragged behind her until she needed to beat her victim into a pulp was a hindrance to sneaking up. That was one of the drawbacks of being a berserker, she couldn't draw onto her full power or revert the stupid arm back to human form until her bloodlust was satisfied. Not that she wanted full form, that would be too easy since she had absolutely no control at all over it and basically blanked out during so. Heck, even the captain had problems controlling her in her true form since she could target him once eye contact was made.

Before one of the soldiers could sense her presence, she plowed him into the floor with the over-sized hand acting as a flyswatter. **'Wild Torment**.' She thought joyfully, increasing the pressure to cause the ribcage to break inwards like flimsy glass. Currently, the strength she wielded in that one freakish hand was 450 lbs. Not exactly at the strength of pirate captains, but enough to bash about lackeys to her heart's content. SZZZZZZZT! Still, the soldiers were far from where she was, dealing with the intruders. 5 small trenches were dug into the floor made by her hand, as she smelled a peculiar scent coming from one of the armored doors on the right.

'Hmmm...smells like raw meat being cooked...it's been so long since I had non-human meat since the cook only makes veggie meals.' She licked her pointed teeth famished and starved, ripping out the heart of the one who was currently half dead on the cratered floor and bit into it to savor the rich taste of a beating organ. She supposed that it was the influence of her other half that made her so hungry, but beggars can't be choosers.

Discarding the heart once it became limp, Cresendo drew back her arm before ramming it full force upon the door. Bonk! She blinked, completely bewildered that she had only smudged the door frame and barely dented it at all. 'The hinges must be really strong as to resist that kind of attack. I'll have to try another approach...'

Gearing back her heavy arm again, she went into a all-out barrage of punches and palm presses, her aim and focus getting wilder by the second as she holleredlike a mad woman. "**Wild Blitzer**!" Each time, the wall shuddered and heavy cracks formed from the intense wailing but the door failed to even budge.

"What the heck is up with this freaking door? Break already or I'll kill you!" She roared, her anger raising faster by the second uncletching the fist to deliver a frightening fast slash towards the steel frame. "**Wild Howler**!" The door shook like a newspaper as the super sharp claw thrusted and gutted, then went downwards to create 5 seperate lines. A loud THUNK was heard on the other side, and without any resistance, the hinges broke off and the doorframe fell backwards onto the floor.

Naturally, since the claw fingers were in the door, they now were stuck in the ground. "Stupid captain...leaving me alone on that ship with nothing to do. I have freedm so I'll enjoy it for now..." She muttered under her breath, yanking the arm hard to release it's grip. "Still, to resist my punches. I bet they have someone really strong on the other side." She grinned, not noticing the "Authorized Personnel Only: Do Not Enter" sign.

The room was dark and gloomy, not a single bit of light was seen to guide her way as she eagerly sniffed the air. "**Wild Beast Eyes**!" Immediately, the room turned a light green color due to her Zoan night vision, allowing her to easily see the gleaming glass cylinders filled up to the brim with water and...are those people? Walking closer to it, she could see a thin plastic apparatus attached to their mouths, allowing them to breath slowly in the green water. What was peculiar was that some of them had gills and webbed feet and hands. Others had wings grafted into their bodies, or scales on their arms and long bony claws for hands.

"What happened to these guys?" She wondered, placing her normal human hand on the glass to wipe off some of the dust. For some reason, housekeeping wasn't one of the Clinic's objectives in life. Without warning, the 'human' woke up, screeching with sharpened 3 inch jaws and slammed it's deformed body against the glass, startling her for a second as she fell backwards on her butt. "Ahhhh, ow!"

Thankfully for her, the person didn't have gills and the glass failed to break. Add to the fact by screeching, the breathing apparatus fell off and the victim was having trouble as he clenched his throat.

"How annoying...**Wild Beat**!" Exasperated at the thought of a human that ugly ending up like her goldfish when she put in salt water, she used her large hand to grab and then squeeze the cylinder. It shattered in her palm, digging in pieces of glass that made her wince for a bit and the mutated human fell over, alive but out cold. "Great. Now my hand hurts by saving that guy." She said, beginning to pluck the pieces out of her hand before infection could begin.

That was when the light blue gust of wind shot past, grazing her face without leaving a mark, yet dealt a fierce gash in the stone floor. She blinked, scratching her head and yawned out of curiosity not even the least bit frightened.

"Gehgehgeh! You shouldn't be messing with the **Hanyou Chimeras**, they were rather costly to make." Jester said, perched on all fours on one of the containers with a crazy mad look on his face. "This here's where we try to merge human embryos with animal DNA, so they will be able to swim without the side-effect of Devil Fruit."

"Hi! Are you a good guy or a bad guy? You smell funny." Cresendo cheerfully exclaimed, bouncing up and down after seeing the technique first hand. She was oblivious to whatever he was talking about since she didn't have much in the way of normal science schooling.

"Good? Bad?" Jester cracked a wider smile, chuckling at the oddness she had. "In the Clinic, we are all soldiers doing our part to save lives or extingish them. Got a bad liver? Take it from someone who has a good one. A incurable illness? Stay by their bed holding their hand until they pass away. Humans have the choice to act that way, but the Clinic redefines reality as harsh and unforgiving. I would have asked you to leave, but I heard of your skill and strength. That behemoth arm of yours is by far amazing to behold. Not logia or paramecia, yet not Zoan either all the way. You must be truly special."

"You sure know how to flatter a girl, but I smell something on you. Something delicious..." She growled, running towards him with Hoppi in front. "Let's do this, Hoppi! **Hippo Hippo Springboard**!" With a high leap, she ran across his back and ended up on his snout which propelled her upwards. Drawing back her enlarged arm, she let loose a high flurry of heavy punches towards him. "**Wild Rampage**!"

"You want to play, girlie? Fine! **Tekkai Spiral Cutter**!" Jester said, leaping off the base to harden his body to the point of steel, spinning toward to unleash a powerful spinning front kick with all four hooks moving around him to form a heavy ring vaccum to prevent dodging.

In the next few seconds, the impact could be heard for a mile around as the two destructive titans clashed for the sake of killing each other.

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"...Dumbo..." Requiem said to herself, looking at the 10 foot tall person with large brown ears like a tent, 2 foot ivory tusks, the long trunk and the muscluar furry body with coarse thick skin.

Next to him was a 6 ft woman with feline eyes, tan fur, two 1 foot downwards tusks, a large jaw to support those pointed teeth, cougar-like ears, and a flexible long tail. She was smirking, enjoying the extreme feeling of anger coming from her partner.

She had met them a few minutes ago when she had finished 'erasing' the guards on duty, mainly using the Beelzebub technique from behind to liquidate them into puddles of pulp and blood, then used the iron fillings to scoop up the evidence into a nearby wastebasket.

Those two called themselves "Black and Yellow Warden", then began to do some very odd poses to show off their fame. Requiem, on the other hand, simply ignored them walking past following the 'spirits' of the Clinic towards the Morgue. There was much to do to release their hold on the building and cross over into Heaven, and those two would not get in her way because of that.

However, they blocked her way and transformed themselves into those destructive Powerhouse forms: **Neko Neko: Model Sabertooth** and **Elephant Elephant: Model Mammoth**, a Lightweight and a Super-Heavyweight Zoan-type. If Requeim had any form of emotion, she would be laughing on the ground from looking at how ridicious the trunk had replaced most of Black Warden's face and how the hair was getting into the guy's eyes. Sorta like a St. Bernard, but with a helmet.

"Black, 30 yards to your right!" Yellow exclaimed, pointing out Requiem's location. The large woolly elephant nodded, then launched at her at 25 mph with the Ax in one padded hand. Each footstep he made during his run pressed dow a few inches into the due to his increased bulk. At the same time, he bent his body halfway to slam his thick skull towards her.

"**Mammoth Charge**!" He yelled, just as Requiem stood blankly to meet his attack head-on without blinking. In a single second, the ramming attack connected with the impact of a runaway trolley. Requiem spewed blood as her chest gave in, flying backwards towards the left wall by the powerful hit.

"**Sabertooth Spin-kick**!" Suddenly with surprising agility, Yellow appeared behind to to strike her in the back with both her clawed foot and her multi-muscled tail ina single rotation. This in a way whipped her hard and sent her back towards Black Warden, drawing back a pillared fist. "Black, move to your left, 50 degree angle!"

"**Mammoth Thrust**!" Requiem took another blow, her lungs taking the brunt of damage and sent back to Yellow who pounced at her.

"**Sabertooth Blitz**!" Multiple sharp claw marks dug deep into her back, as Yellow jumped all over the place with high agility with her daggers, creating after-images of each lunge.

"...Ow..." Requiem muttered, falling to the ground after Yellow skidded to a stop. Naturally, she had not registered any form of pain on her body but the blood on her hand said otherwise. Still, the time played as a victim had nearly went out, now that the arrowheads had formed around her body. "...Astaroth Splitters..." The arrowheads enlengthened themselves, turning into long iron spears. "...die..."

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"Let me down! Preferably not below him!" Gladyr shouted, feeling his shoulders going numb from the 1 foot long foot talons holding him. The one keeping him 30 feet in the air was Pink Warden, who currently had an elongated narrow skull pointed backwards and a long beak longer than any bird that he was familiar with. Her curvy body was still the same, but with a keeled breastbone and leathery skin-like wings, plus it was as light as air but strong enough to keep him up.

The one below was Blue Warden, who was grunting for a chance to beat the crud out of the doctor for nearly shocking and freezing up his left hand. Standing now at 9.5 feet in Powerhouse form, with a small horn on his nose and 3 foot long horns on his forehead. He was covered in cast wrappings which were torn up by the shift in transformation, with padded bulky skin and a sturdy build. He punched his open hand a few times, grinning for the chance for payback.

The three were currently in the now empty mess hall which surprisingly had plenty of room to fly around and no fans to mess with aerodynamics. Gladyr had crossed paths with them when trying to locate a antidote of any kind for Prelude to take, since the 'fart' had to be associated with food 'poison'. But unlike Requiem, he accepted the challenge of those two who currently had a vial of it hidden on their person.

'Still, how the heck did they get this kind of fruit?' He wondered, trying to stay out of the tri-pronged lance's reach by lifting his legs. 'Dino-Dino fruits are a early Navy experiment, and those two have **Triceratops **and** Petrosaur**, two of the original set!'

"Steep Barrel Roll!" Pink said gleefully, dropping down awhile spinning around in place. The rapid motion forced him to brace up, yet his stomach was feeling rather queasy.

"BLLLLLEEEEEEAAAAGH!" Whatever he ate for lunch was now all over Blue, who was now ticked off. "Sorry!" He yelled, passing over him as Pink swooped past him and released her hold. That ended up with him crashing into a nearby lunch table, skidding on discarded lunch trays and flopped unto the floor. Pink Warden landed on all fours, the 'hands' part of the wings in front on the floor.

"**Grand Headbutt**!" Blue said, knocking aside the 600 lb lunch table with his armored skull and horns, then threw the lance at a pivoted angle. "**Grand Trident**!"

"I don't think so! **Casting Maracas**!" Quickly opening his briefcase which he didn't let go of, he tightly wound a thick plaster cast around each hand until they took the form of maracas, only baseball helmet-sized. Measuring the distance and angle of the weapon, he swiftly moved to the right and dealt a powerful jab to the side of it, knocking it into the floor.

"Don't take me lightly, you two! I may be old, but I still have plenty of experience in Marine Boxing. My Lightning Hook will make you two wish you never met me!" He smirked, taking a offensive boxing stance before rushing at them with static gathering in both fists and his eyes looking like he was trapped in his younger years. "Time for a bit of **Shocking Punch-liners**!!"

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Drip. Drip. Drip. Each time the faucet released another drop of water into the sink, Alto winced from the sheer harshness when it echoed in the empty bathroom. Gregory was standing by the door of the stall, holding the neck of a dazed security guard on watch with his rough fisherman hand.

Unlike the others, they had only run into a few groups of soldiers, who were not their allies in disguise. Alto, being a merciful person, simply cut off their trigger fingers and guns before a alarm could be raised and Gregory knocked them out with his hammer staff, their helmets ringing from the powerful hit and cracked apart.

The problem was that Alto was currently suffering the after-effects of a in-between snack between lunch and supper, as his stomach growled at him from being so foolish to eat so much. Despite Gregory's protests, Alto casually woke one of the guards up and forced him to lead him to the nearest lavatory. And the rest, well, was history.

"Interesting workmanship, it's a wonder why they put so much dung in that cave." Alto said, heaving in and out to get the ordeal over with on the porcelain toilet seat. The bathroom was a 50 by 20 by 25 ft fit, with a dozen stalls and 5 functional non-stalled urinals with pumps. Numerous heated towels were sitting by the silver painted sink racks, and there was hardtack bars for snacking. "Clearly, they thought of everything."

"If you say so. To think they had a place like this when I was running around frantically to find my --------y brother-." Gregory said, but was cut short as the stall door was split in two, revealing a dark-faced Alto staring grimly at him with a flexed hand.

"You mean to tell me that you actually had no idea where you were going in this place? You might have put the lives of my men at risk when I had you lead us." Alto said, zipping up his pants looking cross. It was a rare moment when his rage got the better of him, since he looked so gloomy in that form.

"Whoa, whoa there! I do know my way around the -----ing prison area, I just don't know where this place is in the -----ing complex." Gregory said, holding his hands up in protest, trying to calm the beastal evil energy radiating out of Alto.

"He's right, you know." A somewhat muffled male voice said, somewhat startling Alto out of his anger. The floor rumbled a bit, perhaps from the sudden shockwave that Jester and Cresendo produced, as the sink racks broke apart. Strangely, the wall that supported the sinks and the towels fell forward, narrowly crushing Gregory in the process had Alto decided to yank him hard into the stall. Dust and debris clouded the ground, causing the two to cough and choke for a few seconds awhile water began to pour out of the other toilets and broken pipes by the gallon.

"(cough) What is this? The wall's barely a few inches thick with (cough) steel support beams in a L-fashion." Alto said, barely registering the 3 inches of water accumulating on the floor.

"It's a Movie Prop." The voice said, clapping his hands at the specific wit that Alto had with measuring a situation. "A Clinic is a Hospital, and like all Hospitals, there is CONSTANT rebuilding and construction. When your buddy was here last, we had gone through 25 separate construction jobs that nearly remodeled the building and increased the number of cells and rooms as a result. Some of these rooms are actually fake as to deceive those who attempt to escape, with trip alarms to tell us the location. The real restrooms were four doors to the right."

"Show yourself!" Alto said, his feet splashing against the rapidly rising water level as even the toilet he sat on before now spewed water upwards before he could flush.

Several spotlights turned on, nearly blinding Alto's field of vision and Red Warden entered the room followed by 15 women in drabbish rags, their faces obscured by dark veils. Even with the helmet on, Alto could feel a high level of arrogance flowing from the man once he drew his sword and pointed it towards them.

"This is where it all ends, you incompetent man of the Navy. Once I capture you, the rest will fall in line to their graves." Red Warden said, snapping his fingers. "And before you even think of using those strings which are currently exposed in the water, I must warn you that I already know your one true weakness."

"Huh? If it's about my lack of muscles, I think I can take a few women without killing them." Alto said, scratching his head in confusion, not quite understanding what Red Warden was talking about.

That was when the disguises were ripped off, revealing that instead of normal human women, they were actually brown haired **mermaids **with bluish-green indigo tail fins, with their upper body in a nurse outfit partially drenched in blood. Each had a 3 foot empty syringe with a sharpened long needle at the end.

Alto gasped, the color drained out of his face and his confident mood turned to fear as he backed up slowly.

"You can thank your lost nakama for the exposure of your weakness to shots. We had raked his mind quite thoughly, torturing him to the extent of his limits and surpassed even the survival training that he had to resist our control. To think you would have the same weakness as the previous Alto 100 years ago, who was so scared of a injection that he died of smallpox at the same age as you. Luckily there's a cure now, but you'll die just the same when we remove the blood out of your body." Red Warden smirked, folding his arms in triumph.

"That's true...however, the fact that they have those things so large makes it easy for me. I just have to avoid cutting the mermaids in half, since that goes against **Jimbei's Law of Inequality**." Alto said, rethinking the situation even as the water level went up to his knees.

"Perhaps, but can you reach them with strings when the room is flooded? This Prop Room is actually a Diving Hall for Mermans and Mermaids to be re-educated. I have a oxygen tank attached to my helmet and a water-proof suit designed to keep me dry, but you two will be at the mermaid's mercy when the water hits the ceiling. And behind me is the plug needed to suck in the water. I estimate you have only 2 minutes worth to get past your worst fear, then through me and finally attempt to pull the plug despite the heavy suction pressure on the other end. Face it, you've lost." Red Warden chuckled gleefully, as the nurses advanced towards them with blood-shot, dead eyes revealing the extent of their re-education.

"If we lose here, everything we've done up to this point would be meaningless! I won't let you hurt my nakama or my crewmember! 3 Finger Thrust!" Alto shouted, now running straight towards the mermaids who were constantly babbling something about "obey" or "submit", launching his fierce rage against them. Gregory was right behind, his galoshes making his movement a bit more refined than Alto as he swung his hammer staff to take out anyone who attempted to stab Alto in the back.

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"Thiiiiiis iiiiiis iiiiinteeereeeestiiing." Timekeeper said slowly, looking at the chessboard with different figurines of the Baka Wardens, the Genova Corps, and the Surgeon Generals on one side, and the Navy Forces on the other. "Yooooouuu aaalreeeaaadyyyy seeeet thiiiis up?"

"Indeed, it has been a while since I played the game of strategy. I even redesigned the figures a little." The doctor said calmly, folding his hands choosing his first move. "They may have infiltrated the base, but I know each and every mannerism of the Genova Corps."

"Yeeeet iiin aaa waaayyy, the liiiiieeeeuuuteeenaaants aaareee all diiiffeereent thaaan mooost ooof the Naaavy Squuaaads. Eeextreeemeeelyy strooong fooor theeeiir aaagees." Timekeeper droned on, holding a blood-soaked postcard behind his back. It was brought to him during the intrusion, the same letter that Dreamweaver received a month ago by a bat flying overhead in a 'daydream'.

"Now, now. Regardless of strength, the only one that matters is Alto. And probably that girl whom I heard such carnage-filled rumors about. The Baka Wardens have yet to be defeated by either escapees or the ones trying to free prisoners, and if they fail, we will stand in. That's the way the world works." Doctor exclaimed, putting two wardens per lieutenant and one for the captain. Then he put Dreamweaver's figurine next to Prelude and Jester next to Cresendo.

"Theeeree iss ooonee moooree oppooneeent thaaat yoou foorgoot. Thee BiioooxSpoongees haaaavee also beeeeen spotted iiinsiiideee thee buuuiildiiiing. Iiiit seeeeems thaaat sooomee oof thee Maaariiinees haad theem iiinsiidee theeiir boodiiies. Iii haaaaveee eeexaamiineed theee heeaadleess coorpsees myyseelf." Timekeeper stated, showing him drawings of a hallway covered with half-eaten bodies, with coral formiing along the ceiling and walls. "Thoosee creeaatuurees aareee deesiiigneeed tooo keeeeep peeoopleee iiin, buut iif thee cooraal eexpaands iinsiidee thee buuiildiing, theeiir nuumbeers wiill groow liimiitleessly. Alloow mee thee chaancee too taakee oout theem beefooree theey reeaach thee laabooraatooriiees."

"Fine, whatever. Do what you want. Just don't show off your power too soon." The Doctor said, just as Timekeeper faded away into the darkness. A slight blood vein popped on his forehead, throwing his desk against the wall in a abnormal feat of strength. "God! Doesn't anyone use the freaking door anymore?"

* * *

**Baka Wardens-Sadistic individivals, each armed with their own weapon. For some reason, their Zoan animals are prehistoric and they had been brainwashed to serve the Surgeon Generals through thick and thin. Their speciality is 2 on 1 fights, or a "handicap match" as they call it pertaining to Clinic rules. **

**Tortilla Casting-Covers the victim head to toe before hardening, but allows the person to breathe normally. Ineffective against Devil Fruit users. **

**Interrogation specialists-A group of trained professionals with ways of making weak-minded people talk until the victim is broken mentally and physically. **

**Prison Yard-Where thousands of inmates are isolated in soundproof concrete cells on different floors. The higher the threat level, the less space the cell has to move. **

**Hippo Hippo-A powerful carnivore Zoan fruit, weighs up to 3 to 4 tons. The body has thick skin so normal firearms have no effect against it, but it can't eat clothing.**

**Wild Torment-A powerful palm press that confines and breaks the person's bones. **

**Wild Blitzer- A strong barrage capable of destroying a small hill. **

**Wild Howler-A shredding attack, the nails of the claw can cut through multiple layers of steel before getting stuck. Therefore daily maintence of sharpening the normal fingernails is required to keep them tender. **

**Wild Beat-A grabbing move, can squeeze a cow to death due to the abnormal strength of the hand. However, she can't control how much pressure she exerts on a object. Blades can damage her arm after all. **

**Hanyou Chimera-A Crow-hybrid, similar to a harpy. Since Chimeras are currently allowed in the United States, it just came to me as a idea.**

**Hippo Hippo Springboard-A high jump technique requiring timing and skill, since Cresendo doesn't have much in the way of abnormal jumping ability outside her true form. **

**Wild Rampage-A super powerful rage-induced punch, this was once used to destroy a prototype Sea Train that was going to run over a hapless Dolphin on the tracks. **

**Tekkai Spiral Cutter-A body hardened kick with the hooks ready to cleave a person into chunks if they try to dodge it. **

**Neko Neko: Model Sabertooth-Watch the movie 10,000 B.C. to see the size of one, right now she's in Powerhouse form that reduces her size for practical reasons. **

**Elephant Elephant: Model Mammoth-Also watch the movie. Because of the hair in the eyes, navigation is impossible to deal punches and tusk thrusts. **

**Mammoth Charge-A ground-leveling atatck that could result in a bunch of walls getting run through if not directed.**

**Sabertooth Spin-kick-A double attack using tail and foot to amplify the speed of return, used mainly to knock a person back and forth.**

**Mammoth Thrust-A heavy fist attack using the mammoth arm, dfficult to avoid. **

**Sabertooth Blitz-A high speed multi-directional attack from all sides with a cool down period afterwards. **

**Dino Dino: Triceratops-High armored beast with horns in the front, very rare to come by.**

**Dino Dino: Petrosaur: A flyer model capable of gilding for short periods. Also hard to come by. **

**Jimbei's Law of Inequality-"If any of you pathetic humans even TRIES to kill our mermaids, we will raise the sea and drown all of your landlubbers!"**

**Steep Barrel Roll-A flying move that makes people airsick, also to slam them head first into the ground after using velocity and speed combined.**

**Grand Headbutt-A nearly unavoidable move, can either impale or send heavy objects flying. The speed it goes is up up to 35 mph. **

**Grand Trident-A weapon atatck which it's speed increases by the powerhouse's strength of the throw, mostly ends up in killing the person when it runs through their body. **

**Casting Maracas-A Cast technique. Unfortunately because it hardens, Gladyr would be unable to use long range cast techniques, but in return, gets 'boxing gloves' that can pack a explosive hit on contact. **

**Shocking Punch-liners-His way of making a joke, but by rubbing his hands together, the cement fabric gathers a strong current of static electricity that could numb even the toughest pro wrestler. **

**(And no, there is no T-Rex.)**


	20. Blinded by the Light of Judgement

Ch 20

Drode: (appears in a plume of green fire, bowing in respect) Greetings mortals. As you may have guessed from the stench, SH has met his maker in the form of a difficult assignment. That's why the chapter is a bit short, but rest assured, the fights will continue in later chapters. We do have a special guest though, my mother's uncles's half-brothers, cousins ten times removed relative!

(A tall man in a blue tux and white shirt walks in, but his head looks like a purple parakeet with horns and saggy yellow hair. He is dragging a young girl in a school uniform by the head with a metallic yet organic claw. )

Neuro (the parrot demon): Hey, Drode! Great to be here among the living!

Drode: Good to see you, Neuro. And I assume that's your meatbag of a assistant?

Neuro: (nods) You know me all too well. I came because I heard you have a lack of combantants for that tourament thing.

Drode: (chuckles) Nonsense. We have no shortage.

SH: (currently walking past with a axe in the back) Yes we do. (Drode punts him off stage)

Neuro: May I suggest something?

Drode: (sighing, knowing he's under contract not to kill guests) What?

Neuro: Simple, give other authors the chance to use them.

Drode: Whatever. To you folks at home, we offically are 'loaning' the Gandros Navy to those using One Piece OOC fics. All you have to do is ask by "Send Message". However, there are two conditions: Don't kill the characters and keep them in character. Otherwise, we come to your house and kick your butt into the next dimension.

Neuro and Drode: (waves with wicked grins on their faces) Goodbye!

_

* * *

_

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, Sanji's shadow should have been in that episode like it was in the manga. And what the heck is with the Red Line? I thought it was a cervice of some sort.

_"Atos feared nothing but the sky and the ocean, it was said that even the World Government respected him for keeping the world in order. That is, until he became corrupted by paranoia of everyone standing against him..."_

WHAMMM! Throughout the halls, there was a definite sound of bones crunching and walls crumbling into gravel. Black Warden heaved in and out; currently now in animal form; wincing from the spears stabbing lightly into his hardened flesh. He actually hrew himself in the way of the attack to protect Yellow Warden who didn't have as much protection as him. "Is that all you got? This animal had been researched to have been hunted by the ancestors of man with spears, but have been rarely taken down by them. You wasted your attack."

"..." Requiem looked like she was frowning, maintaining a solemn attitude concerning her prey. There was no need to rush after all, those two would make a good warm-up before she located that useless heap of luggage who constantly wanted to battle her.

With the nose trunk, Black Warden casually grabbed the spears out of his hide allowing Yellow Warden the honors of taking out Requiem first. With sais outstretched, she flew at her with a high pounce just as Requiem formed a sword out of leftover iron fillings. The spears crumbled to pieces once she lost her focus on them, crawling back to her side slowly.

CLANG! CLANG! Both sais clashed against the poorly designed sword that looked chewed up on both ends, despite Requiem not holding it with her hands but with her mind. Despite this, the sheer difference in power was obvious since Yellow Warden was pushed back a few inches before digging her 'paws' into the ground to keep her balanced.

'Got to find a way to break this sword...' She thought, glaring at Requiem who returned it with indifference to the ordeal. The less iron fillings used for a technique, the easier it was to keep her head from going bonkers. Which is why Requiem was serene for the time being.

With each thrust, the sword curved to meet it, sending sparks in the air as the sais danced in tune to her heartbeat. Each pulsing of the heart was listened into by Requiem, focusing her parrying to match the sudden rises in pulse. A pulsing of the heart is made of electricity, which is in flow of the magnetic field of the building.

Despite that, Requiem could only defend herself since she was buying time for the iron fillings to inch over to her. Even Black Warden was getting back up to his feet, licking his fingers to apply saliva on the deep wounds inflicted. She calculated a 30 chance of winning, but first comes the fist objective.

"KYYYYYA!" A downcast lunge was swiftly overturned as the sword caught it, then began to wrap around it like a serpent. "What the-?" Half surprised, she used her other sai to drive through Requiem's left shoulder, laughing gleefully at her solemn face.

"..." Requiem didn't even register what she was laughing about, the pain was meaningless to someone who had no nerve connections. "...Constriction..." SNAP! Once she said that word, the sai that the fillings merged with broke apart into 3 different pieces from a high increase in pressure. Taking a few steps forward, widening the damage to her shoulder, she grabbed Yellow Warden by her furry throat with cool, unblinking eyes. "...Commencing execution..."

That was when she was struck by Black Warden's "**Tusken Ram**", sending her sprawling through the wall (nearly damaging a few ribs if she hadn't shifted part of her sword into a dense 'net' to protect her with. What she landed on was a half-deformed human skeleton with parts of it's muscle tissue and flesh standing on a podium.

Winded but not frightened, she stood up coughing up a little blood. The human body could only hold up to 2 liters worth, conservation of it was needed to extend the fight. Even so, she had to pull through by using the environment she was in to her advantage.

The room she was in was a bit vast, but poorly lit for the most part, with probably 16 spotlights shining down on the wooden floor. Standing in place, there were many forms of skeletons placed in different poses, some had crooked oblong skulls, others had short legs and long arms, and many looked more ape than human. The normal Terra Firman bodies looked well preserved from a transparent gel of some sort applied to them, yet chunks of their bone and flesh were carved out so that observers could see the insides without aging or decay.

'...wood...' She thought, a plan already forming upon seeing the ground. It was meaningless to question the meaning of the room, it was merely another morgue but had the intent of a museum.

"**Saber Flurry**!" Before she could act upon it though, Yellow went at her full-animal with a deafening roar, the speed itself was inhuman. Requiem barely had the time to form a small gauntlet to block a fierce slash, then extended it to keep back the man-eating jaws of Yellow's giant animal form. "**Saber Chomper**!" Yellow's teeth crunched down, easily snapping the item like a measly toothpick.

"..." No big loss. Already currents of the iron fillings she used on Black Warden were flowing around her legs and torso, merging to form 'bendable' armor. In one hand, she created a small arrowhead, in the other another arrowhead. Cuppng the two together, the tips of the arrowheads spun furiously against each other, the friction in-between superheated them as a result. That was when she opened her hands to fire it out in a straight line.

FWWOOOOOOSH! "...**Astaroth's Comet**..." Yellow screeched out as the scorching arrowheads bashed into her stomach, the friction generated slightly burning her fire-proof armor since it was of a higher flame. She was sent flying, hitting quite a few skeletons along the way.

Rat-ata-tat-ata-tta-tat-ata-tat-ata-tat-ata-tat! From behind, Black attempted to gun her down with a concentrated bombardment of bullets where the armor wasn't as thick. The shots nailed her a few times, barely missing vital organs but shook her as a result.

Meaningless of course. Iron fillings made from the armor detached and floated around like a cloud of black mist, then formed 'scalpels' to dig out the bullets inch by inch. Once removed, the particles filled in the holes to stop bleeding for a short time, but also reduced the amount of fillings needed. Turning around with a placid look, her eyes chilled Black Warden to the very core of his existence. Never had he seen someone who could just ignore everything but the target in front of her.

Taking one step at a time, Requiem started towards him with a spiraling wave of iron fillings in her palm, combing and merging together in a slow fashion. It was rather taxing if she could think of things like that, maintaining control over the wounds, the armor which was spreading in the form of early samurai-type and the slowly forming weapon.

She was going to make him suffer, just like the kitty who was writhing on the floor with the twin arrowhead burning her suit nice and tender to deal heavy burns. During which, she changed back to powerhouse form in order to use her gloved hands.

"...**Lucifer's Grand Spear**..." She whispered, moving her hand in front of her to unleash a elongated cone spear which was made of complex arrays of iron fillings designed to expand the length and width. A wound the size of a cantaloupe was run through, causing Black Warden to gasp and passed out from shock, his heavy body causing the floor to tremble at his weight and broke apart. He fell into the dark abyss of the basement with his eyes closed, Requiem looking on patiently until she should hear the thudding sound of him crashing into the ground.

"You -itch!" Yellow screamed, finally rid of the tormenting item as she zoomed in to deliver a powerful slash with her skin-shredding claws. Requiem didn't stop her, there was no need when the floor that Yellow was about to pounce on didn't have any nails or screws. Nails and screws that were in her other hand forcibly taken out.

"YEEEEAGGGH!" The thin wood boards shattered once her weight was applied, nearly sending her downwards into the basement had it not been for fast reflexes and a over-sized set of paws. Despite this, her weight was a bit too heavy to pull herself up.

"..." Requiem blankly looked at her, ignoring the curses and swears given. For some reason, this seemed...familiar.

Flashback

_As the sun rose, the sounds of wailing could be heard from the nearby island of Hyodo, a peaceful island made of grassy plains and a few mountains that obscured the small bamboo villages inside of it._

_At one of the grass huts, a long line of depressed men, women and children stood patiently, waving their fans to beat the heat. The smell of rose incense coming from the hut, pleasing the mind and body of those who breathed into it._

_"Welcome..." A younger version of Requiem said, bowing before the group in her Miko clothes. "Mistress will see you now." She was violently shoved aside, tossed like a leaf into the bushes as the crowd began to move inward 15 at a time inside the hut (which had a backdoor)._

_As a priestess trainee, she served the Head Miko known as **Hatsune**, and her large family of apprentices. Adopted into the faith, she watched miracle after miracle from the tender, black-haired teenager with red ribbons tied in her hair. Every man in town wanted to be with her, but the act of 'marriage' was forbidden until the age of 35, since doing it beforehand would impurify her as a 'single' person._

_Sometimes the village would encounter the Navy, other times traveling merchants and many times cutthroat pirates. Pirates that came for gold and plunder ended up being plagued by rats, ripping up their ships and devouring their crew since the vermin seemed to be 'possessed'. They recieved many sick, some injured, others screaming for blood. Although medical equipment was scarce, Hatsune was able to cure their ailments by driving away the spirits that bonded to them or just stayed by their side until they passed away in her futon._

_A devil fruit? Locals reported Hatsune swimming with the dolphins, and Y. Requiem believed them. She could barely swim in the knee deep ravine, so kids pointed at her and laughed at how ungraceful she was compared to Hatsune. She was somewhat clumsy as well, smiling and laughing cheerfully whenever she tripped on a rock or fell down a muddy road, since she rarely felt gloomy or depressed with Hatsune watching over her as her guardian._

_As a trainee, her daily activity started off with the greeting of the crowds, then fetching fresh water from the west mountain for the ritual of exorcism. 2 hours of mediation came after to numb the pain of frostbite and lack of sandals on sharp rocks. Feeding the doves, installing new incense candles, sweeping the dust of the travelers off the floor, the life of a trainee was hard. Even dusting, replacing tiles and scrubbing the floors was handed down to her by the family members, seeing her as a bug that deserved nothing less but a shoe squishing her. Despite the scowling that the others had, Y. Requiem returned it with a smile doing her chores carefree._

_Yet with each chore, came the teachings of the world passed down by scrolls donated by a certain island now blown off the map. One of them was to coax a spirit out of a person's boy, the other to coax one into her body. The latter ended up with her jumping off a cliff for no reason other than the fact the spirit had taken a liking to her. Hatsune managed to pull her to safety, ruining her kimono in the process. Constructing spiritual barriers, learning the tongues of demons in order to obtain their true name, listening to sinners all day long to offer advice, and praying to the gods for tsunamis and typhoons to wipe out enemies and bring good crops were a few of the many lessons learnt._

_One time, when she felt doubtful about her skills when failing the ghost detection exam, she was shunned by the shrine maidens and townsfolk for her ignorance. "What good is a apprentice priestess if she can't see what ails us? A worthless girl like that doesn't deserve to be part of our community." Y. Requiem found herself on the recieving end of many a stoning, the bruises numerous on her back and limbs from the people whom she cared so deeply about._

_Saddened by the heckling and stoning of the villagers, she took it upon herself to find a nice sharp knife to make a blood oath to God. This was a serious crime to most of the priestesses, since only the head could make contact with the deity. Y. Requiem, unaware of this, poked her finger with a slight grimace and began to place it on the holy cross. Out of nowhere, Hatsune caught her wrist and pulled back on it, her face gleaming with understanding. She was taken back to the hut, where Hatsune explained something that she could still recall to this day:_

_"Younger sister, you shouldn't lose sight of what you can and can't see. Currently, the priestesses of old could see many of these wondrous things like Mushi, lesser demons, Wraiths, youkai, tengu, inner youmas, angels, minor 'gods' that work the material world, Ayakashis, spirit familars, Shokujinki, possessor souls, Shikigami, Koropokkoros, spirit puppets, and more. When the time comes, sister, you will be a medium that will keep the Spirit Realm at bay."_

_It was because of her gentle words that inspired her to work harder at her job, exorcising evil spirits and purifying the sick and dying. But then came the girl pirate who turned the townsfolk into ashes just by looking at them, sparing her as the only survivor and throwing her a Devil Fruit as substance once all the food was stolen and taken aboard their ship as plunder.Even Hatsune, the genius priestess, was slain once she was consumed by the living flames the girl produced from her mind, melting her flesh until there was nothing but scorched bones._

_"I am **Kimiko** of the Neuroses Pirates. Cross our path again and I will finish what I started..." The redheaded girl said to Y. Requiem, producing more and more fires on the straw huts just by thinking about it. "Prepare for a new dawn, girl. For there will be no one on this planet to match my power of the mind when I'm through destroying the world..." That's when Y. Requiem breathed in too much smoke and passed out, accidentally chomping down on the Devil Fruit in the process._

End Flashback

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she called upon her armor to demagnetize and gather in her right hand. "...commencing elimination..." She said calmly, creating a metal bat. Death was too good for this woman, sending her into that maze to guide her visually-challenged comrade out would be the best punishment. Aiming carefully, she struck her bat down on the fingers hard enough to crack bone repeatedly.

WHACK! WHACK! "Noooooooooooooo!" THUDD! Yellow soon followed her partner's drop into the maze below, far out of sabertooth leaping ability to get back up. Requiem noted that the sound she made when colliding with the floor only meant that she had landed on all fours before collapsing from muscle aches.

"...Blessed be to God..." She said slowly, making the sign of the cross in hoping that the two may find peace traveling in those dangerous corridors. All around her, spirits of the imprisoned appeared in the form of blue flames, dancing in celebration of the defeat of those two monstrosities.

Cupping her hands in prayer, she allowed one of the blue flames to enter her body, her eyes turning a crimson violet color doing so. "...Lead me to it..." At once, her legs began to move outside of her control, leading her past the skeletons and towards a nearby exit door obscured by lack of lighting.

It was a bit unnerving for the spirit, since Requiem barely had any thoughts of her own. Even for a host body, it was rather empty except for the magnetic sensory powers, making it hard to focus on any certain thing. Still, it couldn't hurt to try some techniques as Requiem's hand opened wide. The bolts on the hinges slipped out, due to them being lightweight metal objects, causing the exit door to fall backwards crushing the body of a nearby guard walking by.

An intense spark rattled the spirit, given as a warning by Requiem to prevent overuse of her power. Apparently by doing that, the wounds nearly reopened but were just as quickly resealed by iron fillings. Reluctantly, the soul obeyed silently, walking out the doorway and down the hallway. The noise level was three times louder than in the other passages for some reason, as if the populace was aware of her presence.

Despite that, Requiem had her orders to keep a low profile regardless of the stream of weeping souls following behind her. The only way to get rid of them was to purify the morgue of evil intent, and only with a spirit that had been inside it before would she be freed of their hold.

A strange smell bothered her though, a faint air of sulfur and fluoride. Before the soul realized it, the leg speed has tripled. Requiem knew that she was close, moving quickly down the hall and brushing past any unfortunate guards in her way. In her right hand, which was gloved, a compound bow formed out of the remaining iron fillings she carried. She'll have to find more later, but this was a excellent find.

The trail of sulfur led to an end at a unguarded triple-reinforced steel door, which seemed dented with a few small holes here and there. Obviously the crew had already cleared out this area but also obeyed orders not to free anyone just yet. The person on the other side of that door was more of a POW than a chronically diseased person, even though she would admit he was a germ in her side.

Concentrating small magnetic waves into her palm, she pressed it against the hand scanner to short-circuit it. The door unlocked itself, unable to receive any new commands and opened open with a slight creak. No doubt the hinges had not been oiled for a long time, adding a sense of added protection to keep the person inside. And that was when the 8 foot long tendril shot at her out of the darkness, destroying her helmet and knocking her back a bit.

"...**Gabriel Burst**..." She stated plainly, even as the tendril stabbed her shoulder in order to numb it with paralyzing poison. Drawing back on the bowstring, a heavy barrage of iron arrows was released to cover the room. This in turn made her lose the bow, but now she was certain that whoever attacked her was wounded. The large shadowy form on the ground with a tendril sprouting out of his back confirmed this when she walked in, undeterred by the poison since it was injected for only a few seconds. He was covered with arrows, but his skin showed no sign of bleeding or severe injury.

Little by little, iron fillings gathered in her fist, curling and reforming into the shape of a sleek, sharpened arrowhead. "...wake up, Bolero..." She murmured, before flicking the item as fast as a bullet towards the metal helmet.

-----------------------------------

Meanwhile...

"Erk! Auugh! (gasp!) Augh!" Prelude was in the middle of throwing up, gasping for breath and clutching her throat for about a minute's time. Her lungs were burning from the loss of air around her. Nocturne stayed where he was, looking at her with a calm expression with Necrofain raised upwards. He had several holes burned into his body, but barely seemed to mind the wounds which were slowly healing up.

"You should have known better to walk into my **Nightshade** technique..." He pointed out, rather proud of the light gray area surrounding her.

"Gurk!...Shut up!" Prelude said, crawling on her hands and knees commando-style to escape the hidden void vacuum. "That was so freaking cheap, using that technique on me."

Nocturne shook his head, smirking evilly awhile raising his hands. "What's cheap about it? Any amateur swordsman can create a vaccum shockwave or a energy ripple, I just cut the air itself and make the person breathe CO2 for a while in a 5 foot radius. Once they breathe in too much of that stuff, they'll have a 'Blackout' period."

"Har, har, har. It's so funny I forgot to laugh." She said, grinding her teeth awhile holding her side. Already the damage done to her ribs by that hooksword was healing up speedily, as well as the wounds to her back from the numerous flying swords which went in and out. However...

"**Dream Dream Nightmare**!" Agatha's long talon fingers tore into her body, dripping with purple miasma to intensify the agony of the cuts done to her. By this time, Prelude braced for it, willing herself not to scream since the witch would just slice her again for pleasurable reasons. The witch stood nearby, retracting the long arm now that the damage was dealt.

Apparently according to Agatha, there is a certain amount of willpower that a average human had over their dreams. Healing, gaining weapons, surviving a fatal fall, standing on air, these were but a few of the many abilities they could use. But with the Dream Dream fruit, it would also backfire since it would allow Agatha to harm them with stronger and unique attacks. Once all the willpower is used up, Agatha could easily kill her since Prelude would have no control over her dream, possibly stopping her heart in the process.

Naturally, Prelude would try to avoid Nocturne's attacks to keep her sanity intact, but he was rather fast on his feet. Even now, black storm clouds covered part of the blue sky firing off green lightning to trap her on the desolate landscape that was once Enies Lobby.

Gathering speed, she and Nocturne strafed through the area with instincts primed on killing each other. Flares and swords flew through the air, either cancelling each other out or gutting/obliterating rocks that were nearby.

"**Lock-on**!" Both of them yelled, performing a running leap sideways with their weapons targeting vital spots. Prelude was sent backwards from recoil, narrowly having her leg grazed by a long broadsword which was meant to impale her stomach. Nocturne, being not as lucky, was set on fire for a minute.

In which Prelude gave him time to roll around on the ground until the flames were smothered, so she could reload on ammo needed to melt a gaping hole in his chest. "You certainly are persistent. **Dorcas **must really have a thing for keeping you alive."

"Dorcas is Nocturne and Nocturne is Dorcas. A Wraith cannot live without a human and vice visca. It beats your heron god any day of the week." Nocturne said, moving in to rapidly thrust Necrofain into her body. Just as quickly, Prelude countered by placing both flare guns in her holsters, inserted a sawblade on each motorized glove, and blocked the blows.

"Hand to hand then if I can't blow a hole in you..." Prelude said, backing up to take her fighting Hina Style stance. Without warning, she moved in to drive a powerful one inch punch, driving the wind out of him before knocking him away with three close-in unison blows to the waist and chest. This was done by gathering impact force within a limited range, rooting her feet to the floor and using the waist to her fullest extent. "**Neon Cannon**!"

Nocturne stumbled, visibly shaken but not deterred by the invisible blows. Prelude was still a beginner after all, for most of the Hina Clan could use their fists to take out a target a few feet away. Right now a inch was the best she could do to take out a guy, but it could still break a ribcage or two. Not including the deep cuts from the revolving sawblades that could have severely damaged his organs had Prelude avoided them. Absorbing a few swords, he braced for the next attack.

"**Neon Cycle**!" Putting both fists perpendicularly above one another and moving them in a circular motion (starting forward and downward) in a tight formation with fists kept facing forward bent at the wrist outward and clenched vertically, she ran towards Nocturne. Nocturne shook from each hit, holding tightly to Necrofain as it took the brunt of the blows.

"**Neon Crash**!" Winding up her right arm, she fired off a straight punch that caused him to skid a few dozen feet, his feet digging deep into the soil. Even then, the powerful sword did not shatter or break down, reinforced by the steel of the swords that sacrificed themselves to protect it.

"Are you about done? You should know by now the limits of your power, Prelude. You cannot win against a swordsman, not with fists nor guns." Nocturne stated gravely, his sword producing purple smoke to absorb more and more swords all over the area into the blade. "Necrofain is the only **gunsword** of it's kind, your attacks are meaningless."

Prelude panted, starting to feel exhaustion for some reason despite the fact she was already sleeping. "Then why is your mouth bleeding?" She lied, knowing that because of the blindfold, the Ebon Eye couldn't tell the difference between blood and saliva.

Examining this up close by wiping his face with his empty hand, he almost dropped his guard against Prelude's **Rising Sun** kneecap strike which would have most certain broke his jaw. Almost. Quickly, he used his elbow to divide the knee from his head, then swept a roundabout slash towards her which was cancelled by ducking. The two went into a all-out brawl, Prelude rapidly jabbing awhile performing roundabout sidesteps to move behind him and Nocturne wildly swinging in a dignifed manner to chop off her freaking legs.

Slamming her left hand to push the sword upwards (awhile slicing at it futilely with revolving sawblade), she feinted to the right to knock him off balance to deliver another heavy one inch punch to the chest. He doubled over hurling, but just as sudden, got up to fight with a menacing aura around him.

"Secret Art: **Breath of Life**." He stated in a deep, hollow tone, his killing ki rising higher than ever before. Now both hands gripped his sword instead of just one, increasing handling and accuracy. A frightening illusion appeared behind him of a monstrous, hulking black wolf with five long tails, drooling acid saliva out of it's fangs.

Even Prelude could barely breathe in the dense atmosphere that he was giving off, knowing full well of the power behind it. Crossing her arms out to protect her chest, she ran straight towards him screaming like a banshee. Namely because if he came to her, most likely scenario she would be cleaved into pieces before she could blink. He was that kind of person after all.

Undeterred by this, Nocturne took a deep breath in and out, then slashed hard missing her by a few feet. "Ha! You missed!" Prelude said, moving a arm out to deliver a fierce punch to the abdomen.

"Did I?" Nocturne's voice came from behind, as Necrofain sliced through her stomach and exited in a single move. However, despite the rip lines on her shirt, there was no blood or a severed pair of legs. Prelude did spit up blood though, dropping to her knees since she couldn't feel her legs anymore. "You seem to forget I'm a assassin. The honor of a swordsman means nothing to one who merely collects them for the goal of combining them."

"Darn it...I have no choice." Exerting a lot of willpower, she began to heal up her wounds from the feet up to her broken spine. She could feel Agatha's claw moving in and digging even further, spreading more miasma to weaken her spirit. 'One more hit like that and I'm screwed!'

"Still, no matter what defense you have, the **Inbâsu Giri** technique is a sword succession move that I obtained from Raizen. Still, I admit there are a few bugs to work out since it cut your shirt in the process, but with it, Necrofain will never be bloody again." Nocturne said, polishing his sword in preparation of dealing the final blow as he walked several feet away for a turnabout sprint. "I suppose I have time for a final request. Do you want me to chop vertical through the head to make you brain-dead or horizonal through the chest to slice open your liver?"

"I choose neither..." A sly, demonic smile spread on Prelude's face as she rose to her feet, putting a hand out in front of her. "Instead, I want you to examine the new rings that I got from you..."

"Huh?" Squinting the Ebon Eye on his forehead, he could barely make out the metal rings with a small tab sticking up. "Those aren't rings, those are grenade pins-oh crap..." Before he realized what she was referring to, the timed flashbang grenades sticking to his chest and backside went off in a fiery explosion of light and flames, destroying him in an instant in a mushroom cloud inferno.

His burnt severed right hand fell next to Prelude, now fully recovered as she removed the pins from her manicured fingers. "Heh, special technique: "**Starlight Breaker**". You may be a dream version of Nocturne, but you can only see in front of and around you, not what is on you like your nose for example. As every sniper at Shinoa knows, if you have a wall to break through to make a camping spot, always have something to blow it up with." She said proudly, her shadow forming the shape of a majestic heron with golden wings as she gave the 'V for Victory' sign.

Clapping could be heard, as Agatha reappeared before her with a amused look on her face. "Congrats, you're just about to lose your sanity and free will to me."

"What'cha talking about? I just took out my best friend, you cannot hurt me unless someone does it for you!" Prelude countered, knowing that because of Agatha's intangible body in the Dream World, she couldn't send her flying with a destructive straight punch flurry.

"How native." Raising her opaque clear white arm up into the air, the clouds shifted into deep rifts of infinite darkness. "The dreams of your mind are a collective, and with them copies are made. Did you really think it would be that simple? **Dream Dream Mass-Control**!!!"

It came down like a clap of thunder, stomping their feet to raise up dust and sand. Prelude rubbed her eyes, then rubbed them again for good measure and to stop the freaking soreness. Nocturnes, everywhere. All of them with Necrofains and bishi sparkles. The number of swords in the sky expanded as much as there were stars in the sky.

"You have got to be -----ing me..." She said, her eyes swirling in a dizzy fashion. "Their handsomeness is blinding!"

"That's right, fall to your imminent demise! You may be good in one on one, but this time the odds are against you! Gagagagagagagagaga!" Agatha laughed horribly, outstretching both of her gruesome white arms to spew out multiple purple energy lines upon the enclosing, surrounding army of deadly swordsmen.

Their auras became in synced to her mind, putting them under her direct command. Putting one foot in front with the other turned sideways, with right arm curved at a 45 degree angle, all Nocturnes launched themselves off the ground to deliver a downwards slash like a black tidal wave on all sides raising upwards to completely and totally annihilate her.

There was one problem, her colors inverted for a split-second. Then 'poof', she vanished into thin air, avoiding the semi-nuke-like attack that parted the wasteland and caused friendly fire to all the Dream Nocturnes who accidentally chopped off each others limbs.

Agatha gaped, her jaw dropping to the ground, literally. "Impossible..." She muttered, bending down to reattach it. The Dreamworld faded away into a darkened hall of mirrors with no reflections, with her in the center of them. "Someone had interfered by waking her up. The Doctor might throw me in the **ROOM** again if I let another one slip through a therapy session without breaking them. I'll have to take drastic measures."

Widing her white, long taloned hand, a heavy cow skull materialized in her palm. "**Dream Dream Brainstorm**." She whispered, placing the skull over her head in which she could see out of the barren bone eye sockets. Her body turned translucent, then flowed like a stream of smoke and into the nearest mirror. "Time to grab a host or two, maybe three dozen? Gagagagaga..." She laughed at her own wit, vanishing into the abyss known as the R.E.M. Realm.

-----------------------------------------------

Meanwhile...

"Gah! Don't kill me!" WHAMM! Rick fell over with a dazzled expression of both joy and terror, as Prelude woke up startled with a smoking fist. Her mouth felt funny, as if she had swallowed grog from the barrel and couldn't bring it up.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant. Bad dream?" Jacob grinned, impressed that she was able to sense Rick bending down to kiss her on the lips and knocked him flat. He was currently pouring Earl Grey tea with a lemon into a ceramic cup, then handed it to her. For some reason, Prelude really loved tea since it calmed her down to a rational state of mind.

"The worst. What happened and where are we?" She said, feeling a migraine of the worst kind sipping her tea. Already the dream of her fighting off Nocturne and that ugly woman faded away like a bad memory, giving her time to focus on the present. Last she remembered, she had kicked the crud out of that stupid plumber jerk and then nothing.

"You were poisoned, lieutenant. We managed to get past the other two Gatekeepers and went inside the Clinic. This room is one of the infirmaries, to say the least it has some of the most disgusting and out of date medical tools I've seen in a long time. I managed to whip up a temporary antidote in this beaker, but it's potency might last only ten minutes at best." Jacob said, eyeing the mass of brain matter on the floor. Brains, organs, eyeballs, many pieces of a human were stuck in jars filled with green, preserving liquid. Scalpels, buzzsaws, knives, shovels, scoops that were for ice cream, all coated with a thin film of blood, and not a jar of painkillers or laughing gas to be found. It was like they just chop people up without knocking them up, binding them with rope or seastone handcuffs. Truly, the people in the Clinic were monsters, just as Gregory told them earlier.

"Well, if this is temporary, where's the real one?" Prelude asked, getting off the bed that she was placed on. She helped herself to a guard uniform and checked the ammo cartridge of her flare gun. Full. She ignored what was in the room, unafraid of body parts and blood since she blasted holes through people most of the time.

"We have men scrambling to find it as we speak, lieutenant. Now that the smelling salts got you out of your funk, we can continue the search and I'll just make more antidotes for the road until we find the one that cures that problem." Jacob stated, currently turned around to gather ingredients.

"Yes, yes, fate of the world and all that. Let's just kill whatever gets in our way and snarf down a burger afterwards, I'm starved." Prelude said, feeling slim and sexy in her skin-tight gray uniform, the armor itself arousing her inner monster to do battle. "Of course, I want the good ones."

---------------------------------------------

"Theeeee cuuuurtaaaiiiin iiiis aaaabooouuut tooo riiiseeee, theeee caaaall iiiis neeeiiiigh. Aaaall theeee aaactooors haaaaveee aaaasseeeembleeed aaand soooon theee fiiiirst aaaact ooof hiiis peeerfooormaaanceee wiiill beeegiiin. Aaand tooo thiiink, iiit caaameee frooom theee blooood ooof aaaa neeeaaar eeextiiinct creeeeaaaatuuureee..." Timekeeper droned, walking ever so slowly towards the advancing BioxSponges which had multiplied in the last 15 minutes.

The lights flickered on and off, gleaming off his one-way lenses. His knuckles crunched over and over putting them into fists and then releasing them. Behind him were silver and gold orbs hovering by mini-copter blades, about 30 or so.

"Aaaall aaaareee ooooooneeee and oooone aaaaareee aaaall..." He snapped his fingers, commencing the absolute slaughter of the masses as the number of orbs tripled and flew towards the ugly burrito-like creatures for the sake of destroying themselves. "Aaaall haaaiiil Aaaatoooos.."

* * *

Gabriel Burst-as long as she has gloves, the arrows can cover a large room to take out anyone without armor. 

Bolero-4th in command of the Lieutenants, a bit of a hot head. In fact, he refers his nickname to be "the God of Flames". His occupation is Helmsman, but he likes to be in charge of the explosives and the Mortars. If anyone touches those things, he would go ballistic on their hides and deep-fry them.

Kimiko-Bouty: 210 million, her only power is pyrokinesis, which she has mastered in spades. Captain of a small armada, prefers those with innate psychic powers. Likes to blow people up with her mind.

Dream Dream Nightmare-Steals control over the dream with each hit and makes the victim easier to hurt as a result.

Lock-On-A sniper's natural instinct with a scope and targeting vital points.

Neon Cycle-Think of it as the spinning punch Yusuke did on the boat before the Dark Tournament. Only a bit stronger.

Neon Crash-A rapid punch with tremoundous force.

Breath of Life-calls on the strength of his Wraith to execute a powerful attack.

Inbasu Giri-Inverse Cut, to explain it further, it can slice through a twig in a jar of water, without cutting either the water or the jar. In other words, there are no defenses against it other than the fact that it's straight-forward and easy to move away from.

Starlight Breaker-A homage to Nanoha (the older one), one of Prelude's sneakiest attacks. However it does waste good flashbang grenades.

One inch punch-A punch move that Bruce Lee invented, can go up to a foot in real life. However, the revolving sawblades may make it look nasty. Simply put, it's a attack that is easy to dodge and needs to be close up for it to be effective, like breaking down a plaster wall.

Gunsword-A blade that can fire off normal swords with expert precison or just cut with the combined might of all the swords inside it.

ROOM-A area that the Doctor controls, infinite whiteness, cramped and small. Time is different in there, making people go insane in under a few days and slowly their mind becomes a blank slate.

Dream Dream Mass-Control:A coping technique that produces new fragments of dream memory, all of which are at the same strength as the original. Bishi sparkles are included.

Dream Dream Brainstorm-Allows her to enter the dreams of those robbed of their sanity, turning them into mindless sleepwalkers who will destroy anyone in their way.

(Drode: Get ready, Cresendo's true Zoan form will be in the next chapter!)


	21. Shocking revelation:Cresendo's power!

(OOC: Sorry, had to adjust the chapter once I realized parts of it looked bad thanks to reviews. Please enjoy it now that the errors are fixed...)

(SH walks in past the red curtains, his torso driven through by a spear and looks at a small piece of paper) Hi, folks. Drode sent me to celebrate Easter. I don't know why, he's been stabbing me constantly withsharp objectdespite the projects I had to do this month. (A rope drops down) Oh yeah, and he has a special thing behind this curtain for the sake of Easter. (pulls the rope)

(The curtains lift up, revealing Prelude, Requiem, Cresecedo and even the blond haired girl Neuro bring with her. All of them are dressed in bunny outfits. Interesting bunny outfits that made him a bit red in the face.)

Prelude: (looks ticked off) I didn't join the marines to be eye candy! (brings out her flare revolvers and chases after SH, who is screaming for help)

Requiem:(pokes the cotton puff tail on her butt) soft

Cresendo: Yayyyyy! I finally get to show my true power! And I look cuter in this bunny uniform than Prelude. (A swarm of flare bullets are fired at her) Eek! (runs to avoid them)

Yoko: (sweatdrops, even as Neuro appears with fake bunny ears to glue permanently to her skull) I don't know why I'm here, but please review. And try our forums.It's up to a hundred posts now. And enjoy a happy Easter! 

* * *

Ch 21

_"And so, the great purging of his enemies began, as island after island was erased of all life. Ships, both pirate and navy, were considered traitors to Atos and were dealt with in the harshest of matters, their weapons and hands taken away."_

OOC: I don't own One Piece. If I did, we would have more Funimation episodes and the fishmen would be a lot stronger to take on the crew. 

* * *

Gladyr, the champion of the ring, felt not all that hot when it came to a real brawl for a two on one handicap match. Especially when dunked into a pot of boiling water meant for the pig's head. "AAAAAAAOOOOOOOOW!" He wailed, jumping upwards with his underwear on fire and ended up hitting the cabinet head-first.

Yes, the old coot had to remove his pants 10 minutes before. For some reason, Pink grabbed onto his leg when he attempted to right jab her in her thin waist, then spun him around repeatedly, using her wings to amplify the speed and momentum. "**Petro Twister**!" 

To say the least, he was dizzy when removing the belt buckle that kept his pants up on his waist. Doing so ended up with him getting thrown in the freezer room.

"Hey! Return my pants!" He yelled, snapping out of his daze once the cold struck him like a lit match on his foot. Frozen bread, meats, dairy products and many fridgated items were stocked on icy metal shelfs, ready to be morphed into tasteless gruel for the patients. His bulbous nose had a small icicle made of snot growing from it and his body was shaking. With a firece warcry, he jumped straight at the open doorway to free himself from the -20 degree chill.

WHAM! The thick steel door was closed in and locked by Blue's padded, muscular arm, causing Gladyr to face-plant into it head first. Naturally, his tongue was stuck upon hitting it, causing him a bit of pain waving his arms up and down to balance out his footing on the slippery floor. To make matters worse, the 'boxing gloves' he crafted weren't made for grasping.

'I hate my life.' He thought, rubbing the two gloves together to stay warm and to build up friction. If he tried to pull back on his tongue by force, his sense of taste and the nerve endings would be damaged beyond repair. (So far, I have yet to see a successful tongue surgery on TV)

Without his medicine, confining the voltage would be difficult since it could easily give him a stroke or two. This is why he chose to put it in the insulated gloves to keep it from spreading. Slowly, the feeling of warmth came to him like a refreshing summer breeze with short bursts of electricity jolting out. 'Gotta do this right or I'm cookedmy Ground Skin isn't on my tongue after all.' 

"**Electro Palm**!" He said in a crude manner, since he couldn't talk normally, placing the flat side of his glove against the glass.

Slowly, the fog faded away and the temperature of the glass rose, freeing his tongue and knocking him backwards on his butt. "Ouch! Much better." He said, rubbing his sore buttocks and repositioning his feet to stand up normally. "Now that that's done, **Hyper Fist**!" He said, negating the static in his gloves in order to break the metal lock on the other side with a well-placed punch.

With that out of the way, he swung the door wide-open, only to hear gunfire and nearly got grazed by a stray bullet. 5, no, 7 soldiers, most likely navy seamen were firing wildly at the two prehistoric Zoans with no strategy or previous planning. Not that Pink and Blue cared, Blue's thick skin easily deflected the rounds awhile Pink held onto his back with talons clinging sofly.

"Blue Warden, he got out!" Pink turned her head 180 degrees as soon as her razor sharp senses picked up Gladyr's footsteps.

"Is that so? Well, then, I'll send you traitors flying then! **Triceratops Calamity**!" Reverting to animal form, Blue geared his front legs to 'kick' upward to 'stand' on two hind legs temporarily, then dropped down suddenly with earth-shattering force. Tiles and floor panels fell upwards from the uproar of shockwaves, sending tables and plates flying all over causing the marines to scatter and take cover.

"Guys, hollow point rounds on the double or grenades!" Gladyr ordered, ducking to avoid the swooping slash done by Pink Warden's curved swords. "He's obviously the tanker, leave him to me! The girl is a airborne type Zoan, take out her wings or the tail that guides her flight."

Not willing to argue with a superior officer, the marines switched from handguns to their trusty hunting rifles with automatic sights. Although not as powerful as modern ammo, the hollow point shell was key to penetrating thick body armor and taking out them without killing them. Still, with the thermals and lack of fans, Pink agilely glided with a trail of bullet holes tracking her from behind, each one meant to sever her tail.

"Don't freaking under-estimate me! **Double Wing Reaper**!" Pink laughed, swinging both swords down on her wing flap. Not only did it cause a heavy gust, but also revealed that the strange curved blades were extendable segment whip blades. It carved through a nearby table, forcing some of them to scramble awhile strafe-firing.

'Darn it!' Gladyr thought, rubbing the two gloves together as he side-stepped the 30 mph lunge of a triple-horned attack. 'Why is it taking so long to gather?'

"What's wrong, runt? Your knee's on fire?" Blue growled, shifting back to Powerhouse form under the assumption that the pitiful old man was running low on juice.

"Hardly, my knee is more spry then you can imaginequot; Gladyr grinned, his feet bouncing up and down to gather friction off the floor. 'The reason I could gather the friction before was because the ice on the floor amplified the charge. I have to be careful to conserve it.'

"No matter, **Grand Stomp**!" Lifting one of his heavy, bulkish legs, he smacked it down to shoot down a fierce straight-forward shockwave that tore up the floor. Gladyr braced for the attack, bringing both fists up by his chin, but moving one a few inches outward.

"**Shocker Underjab**!" Using one arm in front, he punched the ground in front of him. The solid concrete fist sent up a wave of debris, driving the two earthwaves to a stalemate as he went in for the kill. What he hit was a incoming iron lunch table that Blue threw at him when the dust obscured his sight, breaking it apart in one strike and melting part of it as well.

"Okay, stupid plan." He groaned, shaking the sore hand. He could punch Hoppi any time of the week, but a metal table was not something that his gloves can handle. Reaching back with his other hand, he grabbed the pot off the stove and then tossed it straight over Blue's body.

Fun fact: Triceratops have no defense against hot water. Searing, intoxicing flesh-numbing water to be exact. Not even his bodysuit made to nullify the elements could negate that sort of stuff. This is why he fell on the ground, shaking the ground on his tush, screaming from the intense pain.

"Special technique: **Waterboarding Fryer**." Gladyr said, his eyes half-closed. A new surge of friction flowed through his fingers rubbing the two concrete fabric gloves together.

"Okay, you are so =ing dead, man." Blue said, glad that his face was protected by reverting back to human form, the helmet acting as a waterproof barrier. "It's time I showed you some real power!"

"Well, I know it's not your Dino mode since the skin must be terribly burnt." Gladyr said, winding up a dynamic punch as he charged in, sparks flying out of it to make an odd noise like fingers against a chalkboard. "Rolling Thunder Blow!"

Snizt! Before he could execute the move, the trident lance pole suddenly extended in length, taking him by surprise. The tri-lance impaled his left shoulder as a result, then retracted the second he attempted to break it with a downward punch. Blood flowed out from the three puncture wounds, making him gasp from the shock incurred.

"Heh, you fell for it so easily. Even without my dinosaur transformation, I still can kill any bastard human with my Extension Trident. The tips have a hint of seastone so I can drill into the hardest of devil powered bodies. And speaking of whichquot; Using both hands, he held tightly with his right awhile twisting the lower part. 

Gears began to turn inside it, whirring silently as the trident part began to spin rapidly like a top. "Version 2, which inflicts a lot of battle damage and cuts a nice hole through your body. Combine the two and you get a near-invincible weapon with both long and close range effects."

'Bastard.' Gladyr thought, quickly unraveling his left bandage fist by tearing it on the rough edges of the broken table, then wrapped it over the bloody wound to seal it up. 'I hate going to the dentist for crowning. That's why I never brush my teeth to begin with!'

"Get ready! **Triple Threat**!" A fierce series of extension and retraction of the spinning tri-lance bombarded the area, kicking up dust and debris. Gladyr did all he could to be limp and agile despite the wound burning his shoulder blade. The 'drill' was able of cutting 2 foot wide holes, both in the floor and through the broken standing up table behind him.

Even as he ran, the tri-lance followed him since it had a reach up to 20 feet, retracting halfway and firing off again each time it missed. Blue laughed wildly, destroying pots, pans, tables and anything that Gladyr could use against him. And during it, Gladyr managed to locate one of his briefcases in the rubble.

Jackpot! Unlocking it, he took out a new roll of cast ready for usage and stuffed it in his baggy pants in-between running. Then, he started to rub the two hands together to gather friction in his right hand awhile keeping his left nulled.

"That won't work if you can't reach me, fool! With this weapon, no one can touch me!" Blue said, inserting his ring and index finger into a 3 inch hole inserted in the staff part of the trident. "**Onimaru Iron Hide**!" He said, bending down awhile putting the hand upwards, then twirled the fingers around and around, turning the weapon into a circle barrier that can both defend and attack repeatedly without flaws.

That in mind, Gladyr struggled to duck over the repetitive near-fatal blows as he was running low on places to hide and move on normally. His right glove was fully charged, but with the rotation of the trident drill, it was hard to guess where the next opening would be.

'I'll have to risk it then.' He thought, side-stepping one of Pink Warden's segmented swords that tore up the ground like a wheat shredder. With her on the sidelines blocking the exits and him destroying the tables that he could use as fort walls, this technique could easily tire him out. Especially since it was all over the floor.

Bending over, he could feel the sharp wind of the drill nearly grazing him by a millimeter, ripping a little of his Navy jacket upon retraction. With both hands, he picked up as much as the stuff as he could carry, scrambling between jumping and running to avoid the attacks. "Let's see if the rations are as hard as I think they are! **Food Fight Plummel**!"

Hardtack. The single strongest piece of foul bread known to mankind. Tough as a rock, but juicy if ripened right. But even ketchup and mayo couldn't loosen it up since the food products have been 'recycled' for the sake of feeding the hundreds imprisoned, making sure nothing in the garbage bins are wasted. To Blue, it was like a dozen cannonballs pelting him all at once. It didn't matter if the trident was defending him, Gladyr threw it underhand to hit Blue from his one weakness, above his head.

And just as he rose up to dust off his helmet of crumbs, Gladyr seized the chance and took it, running under the whirling pole of destruction and slid on the freshly waxed floor on his belly. Even then, he had the goal in mind with his glove pointed straight out in front of him, as he nailed the right leg in a single strike, toppling the nutjob over.

"AAUUGH!" Blue flailed, hitting the floor, the same time Gladyr spun around a full 180 on the tiles and pounced down upon the hapless form before he could retract the trident fully to block.

"Your armor may be thick and insulated, but I know the one place that you have no defense against! Repeat: **Rolling Thunder Blow**!" Gladyr said, spinning his arm around with the charged fist ready and cocked to fire downwards. To the Blue Warden, it felt as if his spine was tingling, his back cratering the floor by a half-foot once the large cement-incased fist drove into his jejunum. The armor around that area cracked open, slightly tasering the skin as a result.

'10...9...8...7...' Gladyr counted off in his head, back-flipping away from Blue's prone form (and nearly breaking a hip joint).

'6...5...4...' By this time, Blue stood up and used his tri-lance as a walking stick to support his frozen numb leg, approaching him awhile starting to revert into his Dinosaur form. '3...2...1..0!'

"What-" Before Blue Warden could sense the problem, his stomach rapidly bubbled from within, unable to contain itself from the electricity that froze the normal intestial valves. "BLLEGGGGGH!" He said, brown, foamy liquid running down the sides of his helmet and neck as he uncontrollably puked his breakfast, lunch and early dinner all at once.

"B-bastard." Blue moaned, bringing more and more up as he fell to his knees, his hands too sweaty to pull the thing off his head. "W-what did you do to me?" He slumped over, his breathing shallow and slowed once his energy started to leave him.

"I hit you in the lower intestines in which I paralyzed the organs needed to keep bile down. I normally save it for pirates that are worth 140 million or higher, but after what you put me through, I want you to suffer for a while. You'll keep spewing whatever's in your system for about a hour or so, unless you lose consciousness." Gladyr explained, walking away to assist the others. 

"Besides, you don't have the vial. You were far too reckless in your movements and your bodysuit kept expanding in and out." By that time, Blue Warden was too far out of it to hear anything anymore.

Looking up at the sky battle, he could tell that the men were having difficulty keeping the vicious petrowoman at bay, since each time she flew right over them she tore through a shoulder or their guns with her razor beak and segment swords.

"Heh, you punks are 65 million years too early to fight the likes of me!" She crowed, swooping and barrel-rolling out of the sniper's aim. The wall battalion wasn't giving up though, since all of them were trained to handle their guns against aerial enemies. A grid of bullets shot around her, breaking down the ceiling to scatter stone debris down, which she countered by spinning around and flapping hard a strong gust to push it away (and causing her to descend by a few feet).

"**Cyclone Shredder**!" She screeched, dive-bombing in a fast barrel roll with both segmented blades out at full extension. The men quickly scurried, trying to avoid being carved by the bladed horizontal tornado of death. Tables, chairs, plates, all scrapped to pieces on contact, the floor ripped and jagged.

At least, until the whip of casting wrapped around her right hind leg in mid-spin, startling her slightly. Gladyr had tied the other end to a nearby lamp post (which was currently dead), solidifying it upon exposure. Even with a segment blade, the casting would not break or rip unless water or sweat would be applied.

"You lecherous cur! I'll tear you to pieces!" She cried, reverting to full petrosaur form in order to fly around the room at a low altitude and to dodge the spread of bullets following behind her.

Gladyr grinned, folding his arms once she started to approach him. The problem with the cast rope was that he couldn't send a shock through it like with his fists, thus, the only way to remove it was to go through him. She swooped down, gilding on the heated tile thermals with her beak out in front. Pink had the advantage in speed, that much was certain since she was practically at Mach 1, but with great speed comes a deep weakness.

She could see him lifting his arm as if to stretch, but she knew it was just a rouse for him to punch her with a charged punch. Her long beak was more than a match to run him through before he would land a hit. "**Airsplitter Blitz**!" She yelled, extending both segment swords outwards in a V-formation once she shifted into Powerhouse form for more speed. Simply put, once she drove her beak through his heart, she'll slice upwards in a X fashion to rip him into four pieces.

That was when Gladyr suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of her, crossing 15 feet in a single step of leaping. 'No.' She thought, just as her face was bashed in by a fast, hardened punch, breaking her beak and sending her backwards. Even her helmet was cracked by the fierceness of the blow.

"I only electrify my hands when there's a strong, armored opponent. You, on the other hand, lack muscle tone and your bodysuit can't compare to the body armor that I wear underneath. Even if you had gutted me, your beak would have been stuck." Gladyr said, taking a moment to rest. Pink Warden wasn't getting up, he had hit her so hard that a concussion was possible.

Already, the seamen were starting to check her over, placing seastone cuffs around her wrists to convert her to human form as well as her partner. One of them, **Dave**, who was currently a Chemical Researcher, located the antidote vial on her left pant sleeve, along with a few smoke bombs which went off in his face. Naturally, much sneezing and coughing occured as the group took their time to recover before locating Prelude. 'I hate my job...it's too stressful.'

* * *

It was said that some humans could make loud noises. Their vocal pitch sometimes could break glass or even stone. The reason why Bolero, the prisoner of Cell Block Kappa 3; world reowned for containing the most hazardous of freaks; had that stupid mask on was not because of the destructive power he possessed but because-

"**I'M HUNGRY! REQUIEM, WHY DID YOU SHOOT ME LIKE THAT! MY BUTT NOW ITCHES! WHERE THE HECK WERE YOU? WHERE IS THAT FREAKING SHIPWRIGHT SO I CAN STRANGLE HIM?"** The 6'5" merman in blue boxer shorts roared, his voice in-between screechy and mind-numbing. 

That was because his mouth was a long bottle-like snout with numerous sharp teeth along the edges. His ram-like horns on both sides of his gleaming bald forehead acted as ears, listening to the sounds around him. His gray fin was on his back, folded in because of the captivity and the restraints. It would take a month or two to get it back to normal.

"..." Requiem refused to answer him, leading him by the clawed webbed hand out of his cell. Bathed in normal light, Bolero felt comfortable breathing normally again through his blowhole. His wet, gray skin felt much lighter without the restraints that Requiem broke apart with her arrows, the red stripes growing faintly covering over the wounds endured.

It would take about a half hour to grow new tendrils from his back, the three 'tendril horns' had formed on his snout to protect him from harm. Still, he was reasonably nervous since his eyes hadn't adjusted. Even though the person who got him out had Requiem's face, it could all be another one of Dreamweaver's fake fantasies for messing with his head.

Putting that aside, he had no real reason for being on the island. One day, the Ship's carpenter asked him to try out a new device installed in a empty stall. Being a rational person who likes to blow stuff up, Bolero walked in, only to realize that the weapon was outside the stall, a high-performance catapult to be exact. Which was why he was flung far, far off into the distance and landed on a nearby ferry going to the island. And when he demanded to be sent back to Marine HQ, the townsfolk were up in arms since his voice frightened them to the point of near-deafness, causing him to run into the cavern for safety.

"**AND WHEN I WAS INSIDE, ONE OF THOSE GATEKEEPER PUNKS SNUCK UP ON ME WHEN I DIDN'T MAKE AN ECHO, DRUGGING ME OUT COLD WITH A CHLOROFOAM RAG. I WAS THROWN INTO A CELL AND EXPERIMENTED ON FOR DAYS, MAYBE WEEKS. AND YET, I KEPT WONDERING, WHY THE HECK AM I, A MERMAN, DOING IN A ILLEGAL DF FACTORY? I AM SO GOING TO STRANGLE THAT LABCOAT**!" Bolero roared, his wave patterns causing the area to shake a little.

"..." Requiem ignored him, taking out a few fuda paper seals out of her pant's pockets. With expert precision, she tossed them with her other hand against the walls and ceiling, allowing them to stick tightly. Then she chanted a soft, mellow tune to resonate the flow of miko chi into them to connect their threads into one.

It was the true art of a Miko Barrier, intrusion detection. If a normal person passed by, it won't activate but it would tell her that someone was approaching. But if a Devil Fruit User or someone possessed came through, the trap would go off, paralyzing them for a minute or two. Because of what Bolero said, she now knew what to expect.

Bolero snorted, feeling that she was making fun of him again with her placid nature. He was much better at finding people anyways, widening his jawline and inhaling fresh, moist air to suck in his gut and expand his lungs. Then he blurted it all at once, at a frequency higher than human hearing. "**ECHO-ECHO-ECHO-ECHO-ECHO-ECHO**!"

"ECHO-ECHO-ECHO-ECHO-ECHO-ECHO!" A return reply reached his horns, creating a 3-Dimensional imagine of his surroundings in his head. Being part Bottlenose Dolphin had it's perks, even though he was mocked for being a 'mammal' organism.

"**HEH, EASY PICKINGS. ONLY 7 GUARDS BETWEEN US AND THE VAULT DOOR."** He exclaimed, clutching his fist. "**I DON'T SENSE THOSE WARDEN DORKS THOUGH.THE OTHERS MUST BE OUT OF SONAR RANGE**."

"..." Requiem continued to scatter more fuda scrolls walking down the corridor, uncaring of what he said. She had detected heartbeats along the walls, but there were no doors or hidden panels that she could fiddle with small-time magnetic waves. Where was that wavelength coming from? It was spooking the spirits around her, unfazed by the suitras since they were pure souls. "...right wall..."

"**WHAT'S THAT? RIGHT WALL? YOU WANT ME TO DESTROY A HARMLESS WALL? SURE, WHY NOT**!" Sucking in air and building saliva in his throat, he spewed out a 'bubble' the size of a soccer ball, one that was indigo in color. "**B-O-O-M BUBBLE**!"

The sphere gently hovered, floating over to the wall slowly when suddenly 4 figures leapt from it from out of nowhere ripping through it. The wall, not the bubble which on contact, exploded into a gigantic violet fireball of intense heat, burning it down at a rapid rate.

"I** SEE NOW, THE OLD HIDDEN PAPER WALL TRICK. NOT ONLY DOES IT EVADE MY SONAR, YOU GUYS PUT UP A FALSE WALL TO DROP DOWN AND TAKE US FROM BEHIND. HOW ABSOLUTELY STUPID!**." Bolero said,bursting out in laughterbefore the four Genova Corp guards who had crutches under each armpit. However, they weren't cripped, as they turned the crutches to face Bolero and pulled a hidden trigger.

FWOOOOOSH! 8 streams of red flames shot out, consuming him in a inferno of fire. It would seem that they had been given orders to kill him now that he had outlived his purpose.

"**AH, THAT FEELS SO FREAKING GOOD!" **Bolero exclaimed, rubbing his armpits with his webbed hands as if he was bathing.** "FOR A SECOND THERE, I THOUGHT IS WAS MORE OF THOSE IRRIATING MACHINE-GUNS YOU HUMANS LIKE TO PESTER ME WITH. BUT FLAMETHROWERS? I AM THE GOD OF FLAMES, YOU MORTAL HUMANS SHOULD BE HONORED TO CLEANSE MY BODY OF MY RAGE**!"

Inhaling moisture by the bucketful through his blowhole, he shot forth 3 wide rings of green, red and yellow bubbles (each a different width and made of a different number). "**B-O-O-M RING BUBBLE**!"

1/4th of the hallway was suddenly consumed by a titanic explosion of heat and napalmic flames, blowing a hole through a few walls and damaged 2 floors as a result, as Bolero roared out in triumph over torching the four into a crisp. Requiem, being out of the explosion's range, continued on to the morgue, knowing that the crazy Dragonfish hybrid would follow her scent in order to get out.

* * *

BOOOOM! Cresendo coughed up a little bit, laying against the cratered wall with a faint rip on her arm. Then without warning, she was flung by invisible hands to slam into the next wall, then was carried upwards by her feet along it, unable to control them.

Jester, aka Dan Wheels, a infamous CP8 agent who became a rogue assassin with a 140 million bounty, watched her being thrown around the room like a rag doll. If he shifted his feet to the left, she flew into the left wall. The right? The nearest right corner. Walking on the ceiling without his hooks, he merely wanted her to suffer. The Doctor would get upset if she was killed outright, so wearing her down would work.

He could see clearly the deep marks sliced down into the ground by the now blackened arm, the girl had spunk. Not only that, she nearly shattered his Tekkai with a single punch but due to his long period of training, he maintained it. 'If only I hadn't left so soon, I would have learned Kami-e to dodge and took her out with a Shigan, but those techniques were too difficult to master. And Rankyaku does absolutely squat against the arm when she uses it for blocking. This is the only option until I can think of a new technique.'

"Will you get down here and fight me?" Cresendo said, impaling the wall behind her to get a strong grip on it. "This is really annoying that you can walk on the ceiling that I can't reach."

"Tough kid. As a Jester, playing with my victims is my forte. I wear them down and later on break their spirit. Unless you transform soon, I will kill you with no mercy." Jester replied back, sending down a new air rip which she tore apart in a mere second by throwing a chunk of the wall at it.

"You know, anyone can dodge these things. They're blue and make that odd sawblade noise when fired." She said, wondering why he was wasting her time. "And I'm not transforming either. Just my right arm will be enough."

"Heh, talk smart all you want kid. You stand no chance against my power!" Standing on one foot, he spun in place a few times before jumping downwards awhile adjusting his footing. "Geppouquot; He said, jumping and spinning on the air on his single leg. "**Rankyaku Fireworks**!" With each geppou, he shot off a air blade, doing each within a separate second until a heavy rain of air blades bombarded the very room.

Geppouing upwards to the ceiling, he continued the thick barrage by creating a spiral of movement, kicking rapidly to shoot off more air blades. "Rankyaku Performance:**Typhoon Burst**!" Then he geppoued down, hardening his body approaching Cresendo who was coughing on the thick smoke, visibly hurt in some ways. "**Tekkai Giga-Bomber**!"

The floor shook hard, shattering from the explosive re-entry of his feet smashing down on it, awhile Cresendo leapt out of the way pelted by rocky debris. "Soruquot; Before she realized it, she was struck in the back by a curved hook slash, grazing her by a few inches. She turned, but Jester had used Soru again then Geppou to jump over her. " Rankyaku Rainfall!" He said, spinning horizontally down towards her awhile snap-kicking his left leg in all directions to create a 360 dome of air-blades to hit her on several open spots.

"**Wild Barrier**!" Raising her arm upward, she slammed it hard to crater the ground further to make a fierce updraft to shove away the storm leg cutters. As soon as Jester landed not too far away from her position, she grinned evilly with a sinister gleam in her eye. "Interesting, you could do that much Ranynaku and take more than 6 seconds in the air without a Geppou."

"Hmmmph, any amateur can see that. Why you are fighting your own kind is a mystery." Jester said, walking backwards now with a mischievous smile on his face. No doubt he had more tricks to unleash.

"Okay, Hoppi! Let's beat the crud out of this jerk! Mallet-mode!" Cresendo yelled, as her faithful hippo retracted it's head, tail and legs and reformed a long metal stick in the center of it's back, which she caught in mid-air. Suddenly, she went into a fast run, swinging Hoppi over her head, then smashing it downwards into the ground repeatively beginning to chase after him. "Hippo Havoc!"

"No matter how much you pace, a person who sides with apes will never catch me. Join us and we will annihilate the remainder of the worthless monkeys of the Navy." Jester yawned, watching her hit the same spot over and over barely gaining any ground. But to her, she felt like she was closing the distance.

"No way, man! I ain't a traitor to the ones who took me in!" She said, now moving Hoppi out in front. "Now, Hoppi! **Hippo Magnum**!" The rod bent inward by a 45 degree angle, as Hoppi's face appeared on the front-end of it.

"BUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPP!" Widening it's jaw up, the Hippo Hammer belched a big one (cracking a few cylinder tubes in the process). Why this was a bad thing was because Hoppi eats garlic cloves when not snarfing down humans. Jester, unaware of this, felt his hair go on end as the most replusive stench he had ever encountered (including the dung that he threw at prisoners for cheap laughs) entered his nostrils.

"Gaaah! My eyes!" He screamed, the sheer sourness made his retinas water and his mouth dry, rubbing his face with his hands. At the same time, Crescendo suddenly got close to him.

"You shouldn't leave so many openings, lame brain. Hippo Thrasher!" Swinging Hoppi with his mouth wide-open, Jester felt the wind knocked out of him once the thick jaws ensnared his torso.

"Tekkai." Immediately the feeling of being crushed to death was sustained, but the Hippo continued to chew on his body. Obviously being frozen in place to keep a body of iron had disadvantages.

"Gotta now! Hippo Flinger!" She said, spinning in place with both hands holding tightly until she became a blurring twister of flesh and bone. Then just as quickly, released Hoppi from her hold in a random direction.

"Now, Full Power Slam!" The Mallet spat Jester out in mid-air, who then unlocked out of Tekkai and ready to Geppou when Hoppi shifted to his full 4 ton animal form overshadowing his thin frame. It was over in an instant, the massive adult hippo dropping down on him and quaking the very area into dust and pieces of tile, cratering the very fabric of the room several times over.

"And that, is checkmate." Cresendo said with a brief chuckle, making a twisting "thumbs-down" sign with her large animal hand to exclaim victory. "One more down, hundreds to go."

"(grunt, snort)" Hoppi grumbled, feeling a bit of tingling in his thick legs when smashing head-on into the floor. Whatever, he was just doing his job and the guy that he crushed with his gut would be eaten like the rest. Already the long pole was spouting out of his back, requiring him to lumber over so Cresendo could pick him up again.

However, as Cresendo could tell, Hoppi was walking towards her but he seemed to be going backwards. His feet clomped the floor over and over, his forehead sweating profusely going up to his maximum speed of 30 MPH.

"**Track Track Reverse Road."** Jester said quietly, leaning upwards with his suit torn and cut up from the sheer impact of Hoppi hitting him 6 feet into the ground. He had a few bruises on his face and body, visibly wobbling to get back on his feet. Out of nowhere, striped white lines appeared all over the room from where he stood, on the walls, ceilings and even in the air.

"You think I'm going to let you off that easy? I can stand twice the weight that that mangy animal can make." Jester said, getting a crazied look in his freakish eyes. "My Track Track power creates roads for me wherever I ran on, even the air. Geppou's nice, but it wouldn't let me go where I want. I will execute my orders and FORCE you to transform, even if I have to waste my time on such a lowly beast!"

Detaching two of his four elastic straps from his shirt, he flung the hooks out as far as he could, which cut deep into the tiles. Then, he tied both ends together behind his back. "**Track Track Fang Road**." He said coldly, his feet clinging tightly to the floor as he went backwards without even moving his legs, stretching the rubber coils.

"Release!" Immediately revolving around his body to go into a split leg double handstand, the sling-shot boomed heavily launching him towards his prey. "**Tekkai Shark Wheel**!"" With a earth-shattering tremor, his left leg kicked into the ground with tekkai-enforcement, the other leg following behind with arms coming after, all of them rotating at a very fast speed simultaneously. How it was different from Blueno's Tekkai Rin was because of the two remaining hook blades that looked like dorsal fins of a shark (or like Sonic's spin dash).

Hoppi, having poor eyesight, was unaware of the danger that this new technique represented. He just wanted to get back over to his master but she seemed so far away from him at the moment. It brought a tear to his eye thinking that she might be backing up on purpose.

"Hoppi, watch out!" Her words came too late, as a 3 foot gash was ripped into the creature's backside by the hooks and the stomping of steel feet crashing into him. The 'track' he was standing on vanished, allowing Jester the ability to move over him, continue onto the wall, climb up it, then the ceiling, down the next wall and ran over Hoppi again in less than a minute.

"HOPPI!" Unable to fight back the tears in her eyes, she struggled to break free of the cursed floor that kept her from reaching best friend. The hippo groaned, shifting back to a full mallet to stop the flow of blood.

"It's all over for your weapon, lady! One more hit and I'll cut him apart with my Tekkai Looping Slicer!" The crazy man mocked her, knowing that his hook blades could carve up even cannons at the speed he was going at.

"You hurt...Hoppi...you...hurt him...his blood...so much blood...can't control it...the blood..it thrills me...heh, heh..." Crescendo said, her words icy to the core as her body shook from involuntary spasms. Jester dropped out of Tekkai at that moment, standing up straight to face her. Her eyes were now bloodshot, his smile devilish and menacing as her teeth sharpened and mutated.

"words are meaningless..." She said, as a thick black furry tail burst out of her butt. "...all things are edible..." Her other arm started to mutate at a rapid rate, black fur growing on it and her hands swelled up. "must kill..." Her shirt and pants were torn from a remarkable build-up of muscle tissue and black fur, her chest expanding by several inches (but also covered up by the fur). "...Must survive..."Her legs grew upwards, her shoes ripped to shreds by the clawed feet that bound them until they were strong enough to kick a car and flip it over. "...Must devour... Her ears turned dark but otherwise didn't change, her hair turned silvery-white in color, unbraiding itself to spread along her furry back. Her mouth formed into a vicious snout with teeth that could chomp on a crocodile hide (and a nose resembling a pig) and her hands formed 2 foot long talon-like claws in place of her fingernails. "RAAAAAAUGH!" She roared mindlessly now, her eyes now two blue orbs of instinct.

Jester only smirked, feeling fear and acknowledging it as his own looking up at the 15 foot behemoth Zoan. 'So, this is what the Doctor wanted me to fight, huh? The Navy's secret weapon...'

Flashback to when he was in the Office

"_Wait a sec, I have a few more pieces of information that you will need." The Doctor waved over to get Jester's attention. He produced a batch of folders filled with pictures and files._

_"What is this crap?" Jester asked, not really caring about some pictures of buildings getting demolished and islands vacant of life as he looked through them._

_"Those are what I believe the girl caused. Thanks to Dreamweaver's infiltration into that hybrid merman mutant, I acquired these from our brainwashed spies planted in the Marine Headquarters. These documents are F.Y.E.O., top secret and covered up by the World Government." The Doctor explained awhile Jester flipped through the pages. He pulled out a metal washbasin out of his wide sleeves and placed it on the floor along with his shoes._

_"And what, she have something special other than that arm?" Jester raised an eyebrow at pictures of Crescendo when she was 6, already in a seaman uniform._

_"From what I learned, she lacks the biorhythm that all Zoan-users have. Normally that isn't a bad thing, but from her, she has no control whatsoever over her wavelengths of transformation. Simply put, the animal fruit she has takes over her mind, combining both her animal and powerhouse forms into something deadly to everyone around her." The Doctor said, dropping 4 different Devil Fruits into the washbasin and stepped into it._

_"So you want to control this '**Wendigo**' girl then to analyze and find a way to deconstruct the biorhythms of the Zoan users that we possess. And to do that, I have to risk getting torn limb from limb by drawing her attention and acting as bait to take her into a seastone cage. Am I right so far?" Jester said, watching his boss plop his wet socks up and down crushing the fruits into pulp and juice._

_"Exactly. Of course, since both she and the zoan that she has no control of has no fear of death, you may be walking to your own grave." The Doctor said, taking out a glass cup to scoop some of the juice inside until it was full. "Both she and the captain are prime candidates for the Pure Test after all, and what better challenger than the legendary animal that has no equal other than the lion, the mighty-"_

-End flashback-

"**Badger Badger fruit: Model Honey**." Jester said, the excitement rising in his voice. He had reattached the two hookblades to his back, then slipped back into his straight-jacket. "Said to be the most ruthless, fearless carnivore on the planet. And she looks ready to kill anyone in her path should she be disturbed on her hunt. Including her nakama..."

Crescendo roared even louder, her front paws digging into the ground to collect rocks to throw.

"Time for my killer move...**Track Track Illusion Road**!" He said, getting into a running position before launching himself outwards like a bullet leaving after-images of himself in his wake. Entire rows of Jesters appeared passing by, on the walls, ceiling and the floor, all of them within the Track striped lines surrounding Crescendo on all sides.

'By combining my Track Track, soru and geppou, I can create a army of illusions by going into this state of high speed. Of course, afterwards I'll lose most of my stamina and my shoes would be torn, but it would be worth it.' He thought, continuously running around the room. "Ultimate technique: Rankyaku-Den of Sharks! For once blood is exposed, every shark within radius will not hesitate to destroy each other!" From all five sides of the square room, air blades shaped like shark-fins shot forth from his left leg which alternated from running to kicking each split-second.

'Beat that...' Jester thought, watching the gathering of air blades close in for the kill.

* * *

In another section of the base, the silver haired youth had mopped the floor with the corpses of a dozen Marines in Genova Corp clothing piled high. Taking out his lighter, he lit up his cigar and sucked on it to let the cancerous smoke fill his ashtray lungs.

"Morons, did you really think you could outwit one of the Surgeon Generals?" He said, laying his staff against the wall so he could lounge normally on the bodies. Their padded suits had tears in them, as if a giant knife was plunged into the heart and ripped it out the back.

He exhaled, spewing a thick stream of smoke in the form of a skull and crossbones. "Where the heck is that idiotic Genova Postal Worker? I should have gotten my Cheese of the Month subscription."

That was when 4 Genova Corp soldiers, 3 sniper-class males and one small-chested female with a crazed look in her eyes, ran past him and the pile of bodies. "Gaaack!" He coughed, obscured in the dust cloud that the four lifted. "What the? Since when did we get women soldiers that lack substance?"

The girl stopped in mid-run, her eyes glowing with vicious intensity at that remark. Taking out a large sawblade out of her fanny pack, she threw it with deadly accuracy towards him and then continued to run away.

The silver haired man only smirked, grabbing his pole and shifting it forward. "You want to play dirty? Pathetic mortal." Bending his legs, he jumped forward and went past the sawblade. A crack formed on it, then two, until the entire tungsten steel weapon shattered like broken glass. "On this planet, none defeat the unbeatable **Bookworm**. For my mind is a treasure trove of knowledge thanks to me doing all the paperwork for the Clinic."

He was nearly bowled over by the people that followed the four, but anticipated this ahead of time by ducking and moving to the side to let them pass. They looked human, but not as much due to their dry, pasty skin and their thin bodies that practically showed their ribcages and bone structure. Each had a thick build-up of eye crust around the eyelids, making them rely on their sense of touch, hearing and smell. Wearing nothing but a jet black leotard, their hands and feet had over-grown nails that curved like tiger claws, their agility allowed them to move on all fours without rest like a pack of wolves. They vanished as soon as they appeared, the children of the night

"By the Gods, Dreamweaver must really be mad if she would send the **Nightraider Shock Troops** after a scrawny bunch of teens. What's this?" Bookworm yawned, not really caring much about what his fellow comrades did, when he noticed a blood red letter tacked to his leg. "One of them must have found a letter for me, interesting...' In one swift motion, he grabbed the letter and opened it with his pinky, taking it out to read aloud since no one else that he could sense was around to listen in:

* * *

_Attention, veteran pirates_

_2 months from now, the ten year Pirate Con is coming up. If you refuse to go, this letter is programmed to sense such thoughts and blow up, possibly destroying your hands. This is MANDATORY. Be you cruel, rude or nasty, we don't give a damn. This is the largest gathering of pirates besides that worthless excuse for a race (which one of our men funded and is MIA at sea this year due to a certain pirate, coughGeneral Gasparadecough)._

_Dine on the finest of foods and wines, all of it free and nearly limitless (if you exceed 99 dishes, we dunk you in seawater a few times). Explore the Flagship "the Nautica", built by the Expo's Sponsor, Bart "Black Spot" Griff. Try out the deadly armory of weaponry taken from Navy bases collected, test it on a test course. Massage therapy, women tending to your every need, water-skiing, we want to make the crew happy and enjoy life awhile interacting with other crews._

_You want to fight? Do it on your ship or your opponent's ship, we'll be recording it. Davy Back Fights? We'll find a island to drop anchor by for ya, then cheer on those taking part. Test your abilities? Our shipwrights are on it. We even sell items of good value at the Expo, including rare ones that were taken peacefully or by force off islands and from the sea. Swords, guns, accessories, clothing, wood, brick, you name it, the vendors have it ready for you to purchase. You can try to steal it, but then you'll have a hundred cutthroats with high bounties ready to kill ya._

_The reason why we made the Expo as you know is to exchange information and to acquire possible allies. It's also to celebrate the Golden Age of Piracy. And during such, Bart would start the Grand Scavenger Hunt. The winner will become "Pirate King for a Day", allowing him/her the power to take what they want, rule what they want, destroy what they want or even hunt down someone they want with a Armada backing them up. This is the opportunity that comes once every ten years, so come over unless you're a yellow, swindling low-down excuse for a sailor!_

_Sincerely,  
The Expo Team _

* * *

"Who in their right mind besides me would want to go to such a weird place?" Bookworm wondered, spinning his staff walking over the bodies. He tossed the piece of paper thoughtlessly, pulling out a book from his side pocket to read it.

"Hmm...a invasion to spring that jerk who froze my shoulder. Not much of a fight, like these guys, but from what they know, their navigator's no pushover." He said, flipping the pages so fast that his hands received a few paper cuts. "Nor the captain, but he's barely on the level."

Two minutes later, he finished the last novel and placed it on the four foot stack of books that came out of nowhere. "Whewquot; He said, wiping his brow of sweat. "The lives of inferior beings truly works up an appetite. Time to hit the mess hall before I begin killing innocents for my own amusement."

WHOMP! The ceiling tile behind him crashed to the floor, and the hallway was pitch-black from a tremendous shockwave that rattled the complex. Even his teeth were chattering uncontrollably, the presence of a dark killing ki had appeared nearby over in the mortuary. "Okay, I best check this out before the Doctor yells at me for not containing the situation." He muttered, running to the mortuary as fast as his legs could go.

Unfortunately for him, he was going the wrong way altogether...

* * *

Terms:

Shocker Underjab-Fires off a strong frontal shockwave down into the floor to send opponents aside.

Grand Stomp-Shakes the ground to knock a person over. 

Triceratops Calamity-Createsa mini-earthquake with it's body weight pressed down.

Triple Threat-Self-extension, the rotation and the trident lance itself to attack long range.

Hyper Fist-A charged up punch that negates friction. Very powerful to break stuff.

Electro Palm-adds a little heat from small voltage.

Rolling Thunder Blow-A organ-numbing punch to the gut.

Waterboarding Fryer-A torture technique used to extract information with hot or cold water, is very painful when the water is applied.

Cyclone Shredder-A spinning vortex of blades that obliterates anything in it's way and the petrosaur screech makes people wince and close their eyes, weakening their defenses. 

Airsplitter Blitz-A aerial attack that could chop a human to pieces in a split second if they aren't careful. 

B-O-O-M Bubble-Bolero's signature long-range projectile. Slow, but explosive. Runs on saliva that he makes in his throat (which means he needs water bottles to stay hydrated). Depends on the amount of saliva to make a big explosion, as the bubbles are different colors.

B-O-O-M Ring Bubble-Being part bottlenose, that species can actually make rings of bubbles to 'jump' through since they have nothing better to do in a cramped fish tank. Of course, that means a chain explosion would occur, but he is unaffected by this attack. 

Rankyaku Fireworks-Widespread attack to prevent escape. 

Typhoon Burst-A heavy barrage of spinning storm legs lined up behind the next to damage armor. Centered on a single point to deal heavy destruction. 

Tekkai Giga-bomber -even though he's thin, his tekkai is known to bash even the thickest of boulders once he's high enough. 

Wild Barrier-creates a wide shockwave upwards to deflect projectiles that her beastly arm can't protect her from. 

Hippo Magnum-Hoppi's long range attack, similar to a blast of tear gas to the face. Very painful if inhaled since garlic is nasty.Onions are also added for a stronger effect.

Track Track Reverse Road-keeps a person on a treadmill-like path that prevents them from going forward, the speed of the treadmill can send people flying backwards.

Track Track Fang Road-A fast attack that can speed up a person's legs for sharp kicks and running. It can even tear up the floor as a result.

Tekkai Shark Road-A repetitive attack that will bash a person unless he tries to dodge, but also cuts them up.

Dragonfish-Also known as lionfish or Turkey fish. It is 1 foot, 5 cm at adult age and has many relatives world-wide. Has long, seperated tendril spines filled with venom-like poison that can only kill other fish, but it only makes humans experience severe pains, headaches and vomiting. Their bodies are very durable bein in the depths of the ocean and resist diseases rather easily, they prefer to eat their prey whole if it can fit in their mouths. (I added the flammable blood/saliva because each merman has a different ability)

Hybrid Merman-Bolero is a result of a Bottlenose Mermaid and a Dragonfish Merman, gaining sonar/shark hunting skill/bubble spewing from his mom and his flammable blood and saliva, can survive intense heat and fire,plus the traditional tendrils with paralysis poison from his dad. Of course, he's slow, has a low IQ, can't see well without sonar, can barely swim, can't see in the dark, can't tap into merman rage, isn't very strongand has a obnoxious high voice. Yes, I'm aware that lionfish don't have flammable blood, it's just interesting. 

Wendigo-a animalistic desire to feast on the living like a cannibal, only the Zoan amplifies it and takes over the host's mind. 

Ratel Badger-Also known as a Honey Badger, it has menacing claws and a need to challenge anything bigger than it. Said to be on a higher step of the food chain from humans and is in the Guinness Book for being a powerful predator that is fearless.

Track Track Illusion Road-High speed attack that makes it look like a multi shadow clone jutsu, only it's made of after-mages that he constantly makes. 

Bookworm-One of the Five Surgeon Generals. Book smart, not Street smart. Uses a switchblade staff and lacks knowledge of the base hallways. 

Nightraider Shook Troopers-brainwashed, obedient forces that are only fed 3 times a month and given only water to survive. Basically, Dreamweaver commands them to kill and they do it, their free will dead.


	22. Mantoman! Alto's Questionable Ability!

(SH walks by, dragging a rather large boulder behind him since his hand is currently super-glued to it. Drode is sitting on top of it.)

Drode:(chews on a rice stem) Come on, put some effort into it! Oh, hey folks. As you can imagine, I am working my author's stamina to get him to get this up faster.

SH:(wheezes) Can I get a break, boss? 20 pages took a lot out of me...

Drode: If you get the next chapter out in 2 weeks, I'll consider it. Now continue with the plowing exercise so we can strengthen those hands of yours.

SH: (sighs, then goes back to pulling the large rock) Whatever. As for the Readers, we once again remind you that we do wish for cameos for the next arc if you can. But here is the surprise that took me a while to make. I'll do a Ending song later, but for now Theme Music!! (Turns to point towards Stage Right as the Opening Song plays)

* * *

(Starts off by panning to a peaceful sea with hundreds of giant buffalo-sized seagulls flying overhead, with half a dozen pirate ships bombarding a island and raiding it of resources, when suddenly Navy Ships appear on the horizon to drive them away with a heavy bombardment of grapeshot cannonballs. It then zooms in on the Leviathan in which Prelude kicks Alto overboard with a psycho look on her face.)

Narrator: When the world was young, good and evil were only figments of the mind. Then came the pirates that pillaged and plundered, killing anything that moved and broke every rule around. Go, go young men of the seas, the proud and justified Marine soldiers that will turn the tides of naval war!

--

(Starts off with Alto laying back in his E-Z chair getting a suntan, flicking a finger in the sky. One of the seagulls drop down with it's head removed, which is caught by Crescendo's arms.)

When life pours on the oil, we provide the gas to run your heart,  
(Prelude goes around barking orders to the swabbies to get the ship ready for a battle of cannons, then takes out a large picture of Niri and throws it up in the air. Drawing both flare guns, she completely misses the picture and ends up setting the chair and Alto on fire, making him scream out in pain)

Leaving the safety on, the shell will never fire away,

(Requiem staring blankly at the paint on the wall drying, then turns to form a bow in her hand to nail a apple 500 yards away in the center. Ghosts amass around her during a sermon as well.)

Doing our duty to the last man with courage and valor,

(Bolero relaxes in a boiling tub of water with explosive bubbles being gargled upwards destroying part of the ceiling, then shifts to battle mode with two dozen tendrils launched at hidden enemies in the darkness to poison them)

Providing the mechs and rubber-band aircraft for security on land and air,  
(Gladyr complaining as he does his job patching up soldiers with casts and bandages, later fighting off against a bat-like Zoan with electrified cast fists)

Always building and never surrendering, even if the ship goes down,

(Cresendo laughing as she leans on the railing with her large Badger arm, then transforms into her behemoth-sized zoan form and tears a pirate ship apart with her bare claws (and reverts back upon touching the water, holding on a wooden plank half-drowned. Hoppi is nearby snarfing down a buffet of steaks))

Hip Hooray! Hip Hooray! Hip Hooray! Fight, fight, fight!

(3 Shadowy figures appear on the floor, one of a beautiful woman with long hair holding a carrot and a knife, the second a short man with a big head and a wrench in his butt, the third a lean curly-haired kid with a tuba)

We'll always be by your side with a smile and leave when we have to!  
(Hundreds of thousands of Marines sparring with fists, shooting moving targets and practicing swordplay)

Heave it up! Heave it up! The Sea is our Ally!

(Screenshots of Pirate Wanted Posters being burned as pirates left and right are locked up in seastone cuffs and sent to Impel Down)

No matter where we go it's always the same,

(On top of a rather large battleship mast, Nocturne looks onward as hundreds of empty mannequin armors march on to loot towns with his own crew supporting him, Necrofain blinking a few times. Oddly, his head was removed and in his arms, but he is still functioning.)

Pushing our way forward is the only way to go with our ships light,

(Cannons going off during a ship on ship mock battle, one of the rounds heads towards Alto who simply waves at it to rip it into small pieces but is knocked over by Requiem who is working on a flat disk over the edge)

Fighting the wind dragon, overcoming the sea, dat be the life for me,

(Full shot of the Holy Land with all five Gorosei present, plus the 3 Admirals and the Fleet Admiral, their faces grim looking at the sea. The 4 Revolutionary Hunters also watch the sea, ready to battle.)

Beating up the demons of the West Blue with a iron will,

(Smoker, Hina, Tashigi and many other marines gaping out in fear as menacing black spires shot outwards from the water to destroy several ships)

Heave it up! Heave it up! Let's go take them down!

(In the shadow of the moon, a lone figure with flowing white hair and black wings gazes down at the planet with dark intentions.)

High tide or low, let's protect the ones we love with our dreams intact!  
(Shot of chibi-Bolero crying in a pile of dead mermen who tried to kill him, chibi-Prelude left in the corner tearfully awhile Hina Warriors sparred without her, chibi-Alto watching helplessly on a ship as his parents left him in the care of the Marines at 5 years old, chibi-Requiem stumbling down a mountain in her miko kimono and laughing, Crescendo nibbing on her mom's finger and Gladyr in his younger days out in the trenches during a war and getting struck by lightning)

4 Oceans, one world, let's defend them all from the scurvy thieves,

(Bolero, Requiem, Alto, Gladyr, Prelude, Crescendo, Nocturne and the 3 shadowy figures stand on a 10 pointed star, their heads raised high and their eyes firm to the blood red sky filled with monsterous winged Sea Kings)

Sheltering others with goods and punishing those who steal them,

(Legions upon legions of marines salute as one, firing off the cannons and guns upwards to celebrate the defeat of a pirate crew as Bolero flies by on his Flying Fish roaring in triumph.)

Damn those freaking primitive submarines!  
(Fireworks go off in the distance as the Gandros Navy take it easy on the beach getting a tan and drinking root beer by the barrel. Alto is winning for some reason.)

We be the men of the World Government Marines!

(Every member of the Marines group together, lining up to form letters. High up in the air, the word "NAVY" could be seen since everyone is wearing white, with more fireworks and explosions going off in a wide circle around the word)

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. And as I said before, the Dark Union is based off the designs of Grand Lord Atos, one of the greatest fiction writers so review his fics. If I did own One Piece, that homeless kid would be the new Cabin Boy since I believe that he deserves to be treated with respect as a Straw Hat member.

* * *

Ch 22

"In it's darkest hour, the World Government assembled a crackerjack crew to put down the uprising, but before they went out to sea, Ato blew up their ship and half of the Holy Land in a declaration of war. So, they brought misfits instead from all four corners of the globe on a mission to avenge their fallen comrades."

Life is unfair. That's how all humans live to the day they die, unable to contribute to any big event unless they have a talent for it. For Alto, it was staying alive in even the harshest of situations including when dealing with pirates. Heck, he was nearly eaten by a monster made of garbage due to the Juryrig Juryrig fruit used by the Landfill Pirate Captain, Blair Donalds. Or thrown into a battle arena with giant man-eating lions holding spears and razor nets with animals in the stands mocking him.

It's times like these when trying not to get a shot from a bloodthirsty mermaid using the knee-deep water around him in a not-so-public restroom "movie set" that he wondered, is this really reality? Am I just dreaming all this? Why couldn't I just have taken that deskjob that I really wanted?

Bounding over another mermaid, he got from behind to twist her arm gently to force her to drop the deadly needle. Then, placing his foot on her backside carefully, he relaxed his spine to bring her over his head (making a upside-down U motion) and brought her downwards face-first into the watery floor.

"**Jijutsu Art: Limp Noodle Slam**." He said quietly, checking her right dorsal fin for a heartbeat with two fingers. It was a slow pulse, but she was alive but out cold. "**Jijutsu Art: Titan Whirlwind**..." Alto stated, his eyes firm but considerably scared of the two mermaids flying at him with the needles ready to jab into his side. Before the syringes made contact, his hands shot out in both directions to catch them to take the mermaids by surprise then gripped hard.

With a spin on his shoulders, he rotated the two needles as well as the mermaids holding them, his eyes ablaze with fear. It would appear that he was actually handling the weight of the two mermaids by spinning them wildly without throwing them. He could feel his underwear getting soaked by now by the rising water level, and like most people who jump into a pool without testing it, instantly panicked.

"IT'S COLD! OW!" With that outburst, he not only let go of the two, he also pricked his palm with the syringe. One of the mermaids was flung hard against a wall, the other went into a hidden doorway which opened for her to pass through, then closed up. About a pint of his blood was store inside of the vial syringe. "(phew, phew) Geez, that stings!" He muttered, licking the sore wound so the saliva could cleanse the blood and blew on it.

"Blast it...even if they were women, I would mop the floor with them. But Mermaids are law-protected, I can't kill any of them like a normal lackey." He said under his breath, ducking an overhead lunge and grabbing one of them by the arm, throwing the mermaid hard at the nearest toilet. "And what's worse is that in the water, they recover a lot faster. That one keeps getting up!"

"Don't space out on me." Gregory warned, attempting to slash hard into Red Warden's abdomen with his spear, only for it to be blocked vertically by the long sword that the costumed warrior held.

True, unlike Alto, he didn't have strong lifting ability to throw people around, but he did the expertise to gut a Sea King. Shame the water drenched his matches though so he could burn the stupid helmet. "Cast Away Storm!" A heavy barrage of thrusts was launched, targeting shoulders and kneecaps.

Red Warden countered this with his own parrys, twisting his wrist to expertly knock aside any attempt to cut him. "Tyrant Blaze!" He said coldly, slashing the water sideways to make a deep wave to rise upwards.

"AAAGH!" Gregory cursed, covering his face once the wave slammed into him, then used both hands to shield from a heavy thrust with his spear, then spun it around at a 270 degree angle to shove the sword into the water. "Luring Bait!"

Red changed his sword hand at the last second, moving it upwards to cross against the pole-part of the spear. "You're good, kid. But I can use both hands even if it's a one sword style." The two went into a series of thrusts and curved slashes, their hand grips getting wet in the process. Each knew that they wouldn't get into anything fancy otherwise they would lose their weapon and be at the mercy of the other fighter. The space that they fought in was also limited, since the spear was a mid-range weapon awhile the sword was a short range.

Red could tell that Gregory had some experience with the spear before, since he had a small rope attached to it from his pant's pocket. If thrown, it could be deflected and he could easily rush in to cut a deep wound, but Gregory could retract it in a mere second to counter and retaliate.

Even though Red Warden was supposedly a leader, he was actually the tactical officer in charge of making sure that the thousands of patients won't rise up. Blue was the one who took care of lockdowns. Pink had the duty of infiltrating the many groups in the building to find rebel leaders and expose them to the Genova Corps. Black handled capturing and questioning of any who attempted to escape, sometimes crushing their limbs to get answers. And Yellow was the one who made sure the Fruit Juice was ready on time and steriziled for the Pure Test. Combined, they could easily rule the hallways with an iron fist but these newcomers were mocking them.

By now, the water had rised to waist level and Alto had adapted to the sheer cold by now, but it still made him uncomfortable to wear Navy clothes in such dampness. Throwing aside a incoming mermaid, he pulled off his Navy blazer jacket with a confident look in his eyes. 'I only have one shot at this. If I fail, I may as well learn how to grow gills.' He thought, rushing at the nearest prop wall. He lifted the heavy piece upwards in one single motion, then geared his shoulders close to him as if he was handling a frisbee.

"**Jujutsu Art: Bringing Down the House**!" He yelled, flinging the upholstery hard as he could to bring down the nearest wall. It splintered and broke apart on impact, barely making any form of dent on the 3 foot thick concrete barrier. Except for a small crack, one that was slowly breaking up. Looking around for another item to throw, he settled on one of the broken toilets floating about in the torso-deep water. Using both hands on each side, he tossed it against the crack despite the mermaids ganging up on him.

BOOOOM! "**RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWR! FOOD**!!" Awhile he had his attention turned to the toilet smacking hard and making a deep imprint, a huge explosion of ire consumed and destroyed a nearby portion of the wall. The screeching sound of Bolero's shrill voice made Alto shiver, as well as froze up the mermaids since it was part dolphin echo.

"Bolero?" Alto turned around, only to be shoulder-tacked and bear-hugged by his merman comrade. The dragonfish hybrid laughed full-heartedly, squeezing Alto close to his chest as the water receded out the hole made. The mermaids were also pulled away by the strong current, trying to grab onto the floor or tile panels.

"**CAPTAIN! IT'S SO GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! YOU CAME ALL THIS WAY JUST TO GET ME OUT OF THIS NASTY ASYLUM! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU**!" Bolero laughed, awhile Alto looked halfway pale-white with one of the tendrils poking his arm. He noticed that his boss felt a bit limp, frowning in displeasure. "**GEEZ, CAPTAIN! I KNOW YOU HAVE YOUR THING ABOUT PERSONAL SPACE AND THAT MEN DON'T HUG, BUT AT LEAST SAY THAT YOU'RE GLAD TO SEE ME**."

Alto's only response was to gurgle up spit and vomit, his eyes rolled back from the toxins. Bolero chuckled, noticing the expression that only Alto could make when he was suffering. "**OHOHOHO! SORRY ABOUT THAT! I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO RETRACT THAT ONE ON MY ARM**!" Moving his scaly arm around the pants, he pulled out a antidote vial out from a hidden pocket, popped up the child-proof cap and force-fed the liquid through Alto's open mouth.

The eyes reset themselves, his breathing getting better and his skin color shifted to a pinkish-orange once more. "Bolero, I told you never to jab me with those things. But I am glad that you got out okay." Alto heaved, slipping out of the tight hug to get his bearings back.

"**AH, YOU BIG SOFTIE. A DRAGONFISH IS ALWAYS READY TO FIGHT**." Bolero roared, slamming his chest with a fist and sucking in moisture at the same time. By this time, the room was vacant of water and mermaids, the latter rendered almost immobile flopping around in the hallways like stranded fish. "**YOU STILL LOOK PALE. SOMETHING HAPPEN**?"

"One of the mermaids injected and stole a chunk of blood, and it will take a bit to close the wound up now that the water's gone." Alto winced, clutching his side to cover the hole up. "I really hate needles..."

"**HEH, SO DOES EVERYONE. I WAS TRYING TO FIND REQUIEM BUT MY SNOUT WAS FOLDED IN, SO MY SENSE OF SMELL WAS SHORTED OUT**." Bolero laughed, spewing a few bubbles here and there to blow up parts of the fake room.

'This is why I was against getting him, he's so impulsive to destruction!' Alto thought, watching Red Warden and Gregory stand on equal footing despite the explosions and the water level dropping. Gregory was moving in and out, watching the footing of each motion towards him to deliver a head blow, only to overturn it with a upwards counter thrust and repulsion cross slash. Red overturned it by pushing his sword forward, keeping his feet still to prevent being repelled, then slashed horizontally three times.

Spinning the staff part in place, Gregory winced from the severe cuts received on his hands trying to block the attacks. The staff was made to survive getting chopped by a Sea King, made of extremely dense wood found on a island that they traded fish with. The sword was barely damaging it at all, despite the repetition of the strikes and slashes.

'Not very fair...' Alto thought, observing from the sidelines. "Bolero, can you break those two up? The person in the red jumpsuit bores me but it take a few minutes to dry these." He shook his hands several times to try separating the water droplets from the strings, now that the water level was down to 0.

"**HEH, THOUGHT YOU NEVER ASK. B-O-O-M BUBBLE**!" Bolero inhaled before spewing out a green bubble towards Red Warden.

'Green...he's probably running off normal moisture so the blast radius wouldn't hurt me and Gregory.' Alto thought, observing Gregory's dodge, twist and rapid-spin slash tactics go into motion. 'Still, the Red Warden isn't really what I expected. At best, he's a Grade H fighter, barely above that of a common seamen. Gregory's basically in the same range unless he has a hidden Devil Fruit ability, but that's impossible since Wharfs have no access to such items and that it would be hazardous.'

That matter of thought was interrupted by Red Warden turning halfway with a curved slash to cut the bubble in half. Only...it didn't explode with the power of a grenade. Instead, the sword turned a crimson red and began to give off a toxic odor of smoke.

"Heh...you stupid merman. You fell right into my trap. My sword, although not Devil Powered, is designed to absorb the elements (courteously of the Doctor). Did you really think that I would be the leader if I didn't have a way to defeat the Devil Fruit users around here?" Red Warden grinned, as his neck began to elongate from his body.

'What the? Is he one of those long neck spirits from ancient legends?' Alto thought, then turned to Bolero. "What is he talking about? Are there other Devil Fruit users around?"

Bolero held his head low, frowning at this development. "**FROM WHAT I LEARNED, THIS IS A CLASS A RANKED ILLEGAL FACILITY FOR THE PURSUIT OF DEVIL FRUIT EXPERIMENTS. OVER HALF OF THE PEOPLE HERE WERE FED DEVIL FRUITS AND THEN MIND-WIPED FOR COMPLETE CONTROL, THE REST ARE CURRENTLY DOING MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES TO MAKE THEM READY TO EAT A DEVIL FRUIT. THE WARDENS STRESS EVERYONE OUT AND MAKE SURE THAT THEY BEHAVE, SECURING AND LOCKING DOWN ANY WHO DISOBEY**."

"And that includes you, fish-breath. Sulfur Spray!" A intoxicating blast of black smoke shot out of the broken blade, knocking Gregory backwards awhile dealing minor burns to the uniform in the form of a shallow slice. His legs bulked up and grew upwards, his shoes getting shredded by the large talons that sprouted out. His backside grew a long, brown tail and his torso wided by a few feet. Red Warden continued to grow and grow, his human hands replaced by 3 foot long curved claws capable of cutting a car roof apart and his head resembled that of a red-tailed hawk merged with a Brachiosaurus. Even his body armor was covered with primitive feathers and thick dinosaur scales, making his arms 'winged' in some cases. "This is my true Zoan form:** Dino Dino: Therizinosaur**. Taller than a T-rex, but ten times more deadly and fast." Red Warden smirked, his teeth still normal due to him being in Powerhouse mode.

'Ooookay...this is a bit odd. He looks like a plant eater but he has the fighting abilities of a predator. Who the heck gave him a devil fruit like that, unless...' Alto thought, taken back by the odd battle form. "What's your real name?"

It was if a sledgehammer nailed Red hard, his head bounced from impact of those words before getting himself into a calm state of mind. "What do you mean by that? I am the Red Warden, protector and defender of this facility-"

"Blah, blah, blah." Alto mocked him, cupping his hands to act as a mouth with disappointed eyes. "I'm talking about who you really are. There's no way in heck some civilian or pirate could get a hold of such a fruit when they were in production a few months before the Slayheim incident." Quickly, he moved back to avoid a sudden rake slash, then backflipped over the tail that was coming behind him.

"Who cares? I'm happy being the leader! Who needs a name when I can be master of all I survey!" Red Warden cawed, his motions even faster than before, attempting to set Alto ablaze with the adaptable sword.

"Do you honestly believe that?" Alto shouted back at him, swerving to avoid getting cut, the heat emitted warmed up his clothing a bit on each lunge and strike. "Transform into a human and take off your helmet and you'll find that you are the same as any of us!"

"I refuse to be lectured by someone who lacks the power to change the world! Even with your strength, I am beyond your weight capacity since I am bigger and heavier than the Tyrannosaurus Rex! I am superior to you apes who uses tools instead of your brains!" Red Warden countered with a sneer, trying to slam down with his thick tail on Alto's head when Bolero shoved his comrade to the side to take the hit.

"**SPINAL RAVAGE**!" Without waiting, about 20 tendrils shot out of his back in order to form a close-knitted blanket of 'flesh', then erupted outwards once the tail hit, stinging it repetitively with the poisoned tips. Over half were sacrificed protecting him, spilling a few pints of his napalmish blood on the floor. Red screeched out in pain, whipping around the half-frozen tail and sent Bolero flying with a under-level swing of it.

"Bolero!" Alto yelled, ducking down to prevent getting hit by a taloned spin-kick, then moved to the side when the sword came down, burning part of his shirt. Feeling the flames, he began to pat down the fire with his bare hands to put it out, blowing on it at the same time. 'Man, if only the shipwright was here...'

"See! See! No matter how much you determine a man's fate by his identity, everyone is a criminal save for us! Like the Navy, our justice is to be tough on our victims so they would break down in courage and surrender their souls for our cause!" Red said proudly, just as the sword was split in two at a 45 degree angle. Alto had that murderous gaze again, his eyes burning with anger now that he put out the flames. His strings were dry once more, invisible to the naked eye and sharpened to perfection.

"Are you done, Commodore Griswold?" He said hatefully, his aura a sickening black glow around him when extending his strings to full length. "Now that I listened to how you talk and your swordplay, it is obvious that you're the one behind the helmet. And those others you mentioned are part of the same crew since you were never the type to work with others, being one of the infamous Z-G Marines. You sure have twisted your mind if I'll let you off easy, court martial or not."

Something snapped in Red's mind, a fierce headache from memories deeply buried in his subconscious. But at the same time, the brain surgery and Dreamweaver's influence worked to suppress it, resulting in an epic clash of the two brain halves. "Do you take me an idiot? I am not one of you weaklings! I am the Red Warden and have always been the Red Warden! Mind games don't work on me!"

"Gee, imagine that. But right now you look plain stupid with your sword broken. And I know that my strings can easily cut through your feathery hide. Give up and I'll be lenient."

Red's grin grew broader, as he tapped a switch on the hilt. "I won't be so sure about that..." He swung hard, suddenly producing a thin rip on Alto's shirt since he was close up. "Even if the blade is damaged, it's still effective in melee! And I have a even bigger surprise! Doctor, suit me up!" He said into his baby Den Den Mushi, which was inside the helmet.

The reaction was almost instantaneous in nature, From out of nowhere, the twin sais, the black axe, the tri-lance and the double segmented swords fell from the ceiling towards him, almost as if guided by invisible hands to put them in the right place.

The Black Axe formed cuffs along the handle, connecting and attaching itself to his right arm and extended the pole along the back, shifting to automatic machine-gun mode so the bulky claw won't interfere. The tri-lance dropped down by his right leg with cuffs emerging out of it, clinging to the knee and bending the lance part to 'curve' over the foot claws in the shape of armor. The Sais had already fused together to form a metallic claw (similar to that of Vega's in Street Fighter) and connected to the left foot talons as to guard them. Finally, the twin segmented swords flew down gracefully to magnetize onto the pole of the axe on his back, then wrapped around the torso once overlapping each other to form a X-like armor and positioned the sword-tips above each shoulder.

"This is the true strength of the Wardens, the Ultima Suit. I don't care who I was in the past, the only thing that matters is to imprison those who fight cruel justice!" Red Warden laughed mockingly, spreading his scaly arms out to show his supremacy. "And now I call upon my mighty steed to eradicate you all! Come, **Gianni**!"

From out of the hole that Bolero made, a massive 940 kg, 7 meter long beast with green scaly skin, long sharp claws, a formed pink tongue and a jaw that could rip up Great Danes walked in. It hissed, feeling the warmth generated by Bolero on the floor and soaking it in to stay awake. Two long black and white wings were on each side, the black part on the outer edges, and it seemed to be wearing metal backpacks, one on it's back, two on it's sides.

"Like it? We fed it to a Albatross and tamed it so it could control it's full power. Although said to be extinct, our boss located the devil fruit known only as **Lizard Lizard Fruit:Model Megalania**! The largest man-eating lizard in the world!" Red boasted, charging in towards Alto who was reeling in his strings.

Needles tipped with morphine were launched out of the transformed sai claw as soon as he kicked forward, missing Alto who ducked down by a mere two feet, only to be grabbed by the neck with his long tail. "Whoaaaaa!" Suddenly, he was bashed head-first and dragged along the tiled floor as Red screeched out a ear-numbing sound. He attempted to wiggle free, his wires digging deep into the surface to capture any form of metal that wouldn't be cut and thus get anchored.

That plan backfired before it began, once Red Warden stopped and back-flipped iin a fraction of a second, before firing off the extendable tri-lance down upon him. Alto countered this by forming a wide cat's cradle string figure with both hands, shielding his vital organs and wearing down his finger strength. Apparently the tri-lance was stronger than the strings since it didn't break, retracting in mid-spin so Red can land gracefully on his cumbersome feet and then turn quickly to knock Alto over with a frighteningly powerful blow of the muscular tail.

Alto rolled in mid-flight so his feet could touch the nearest false wall, bounding off it with both hands ready. A fierce storm of armor-piercing rounds fired out of the axe multi-barrels, once Red moved in for the kill. "You fool! You stand no chance against the ultimate weapon!" He crowed, watching Alto move his hands ever so delicately with calm vibrations.

"10 Finger Spin-Shredder!" Alto said, completely focused as he spun in place launching himself off the wall as if he was in a pool of water. The bullets were split into grated pieces before bouncing off the invisible wall of high speed string slinging. Unlike the one he used on the insects, the 10 Finger technique was only to be used to disarm a opponent of ammunition, but required a horizontal jump towards the person. In a mere second, the axe was carved up and fell apart, and Alto suffered a deep gash in his right leg due to Red sprinting with quick agility to attack his weak point with his long claws. "Owwwww! Geez, that smarts!" He groaned, landing ever so ungracefully on his left leg before face-planting the floor.

Turning his head, he could see that Red was just standing there, waiting for him to get back up. After all, even if his mind was wiped and drained of memories of him being a former marine, the fact remained that this was a man-to-man fight that couldn't be stopped. Reluctantly, Alto searched his pockets and located one of Gladyr's Cast Bandages, applying it around the injury carefully and putting pressure to cut down on the bleeding.

Red Warden licked off the blood from his curved talons, enjoying the fresh taste of a rare blood-type such as Alto's. 'So this is what you run on, huh? No wonder you were selected out of hundreds of thousands to carry that title. It's spicy yet sweet in my mouth, I must have more of it!' He thought, whipping his tail back and forth, his long neck curling inward like a folded spring to avoid getting cut.

'Gotta be careful, adrenaline would wear off if I run out of blood.' Alto thought, using a painkiller pill to ease his suffering a bit longer. Not that he 'stole' them, he just snuck a few out of the jar Gladyr had into his pocket for later usage before they went in the cave. Now that he thought about it, swallowing them without water made it taste like strawberries, yuck!

"I suppose I gave you long enough." Red said in a tickled off tone, mistaking Alto sticking out his tongue towards him in disgust over the pill's flavor as mocking him for pity. He tore into Alto's body armor with the serrated burning blade, barely grazing the skin when Alto carefully tossed him away to the right side. His right foot was stabbed by the sai armored boot, but nothing to be too concerned about at the moment.

Bolero and Gregory, on the other hand, were running for their lives being chased by the murderous man-eating lizard. Apparently the backpacks were actually steel missile packs armed with heat-seeking net rockets. Rockets were flying after them since Bolero was the equal of a furnace from his high body heat.

"**BLASTED HUMANS! WHY IS IT THEY NEVER EVOLVE BEHIND SUCH PRIMITIVE TOOLS**!?" Bolero growled, inhaling moisture between yelling.

"Well what about you? Those nets are made of thick rope, it shouldn't be a problem to cut them with tendrils?" Gregory huffed, rubbing the bloody wound on his forehead when he het hit by Red's powerful strike. He spun the spear behind him, slicing up any approaching nets that came at them,

"**BAD MOVE, THAT WAS JUST A FLUKE ON MY PART, I RUSHED THE REGENERATION TOO FAST. RIGHT NOW, THE ONLY TENDRILS I CAN ACCESS ARE MY SNOUT 'HORNS' AND THE ONES ON MY ARMS, BUT THEY HAVE LIMITED RANGE. IF I WAS TO ENGAGE IT, THE NETS WOULD HOLD ME DOWN WITH THE WEIGHTED SPIKES ATTACHED. EVEN IF I WAS TO ACTIVATE MERMAN RAGE, MY STRENGTH IS BELOW THE AVERAGE MERMAN**." Bolero sneered at such a absurd idea, his saliva level raising steadily by the minute.

"And if we get too close, it would chomp us apart and cut us with those claws, right?" Gregory said, shaking off a weighted rope from his spear. Which gave him a small idea. "That bubble thing, can you just make a tiny one? Enough to light up a candle?"

"**I SUPPOSE, BUT IT WON'T BE VERY STRONG, EVEN IF I MAKE IT INTO A CHAIN REACTION BUBBLE-BEAM. HERE GOES!** **MINI B-O-O-M BUBBLE**!" Turning his feet in reserve so he would run backwards, he plucked up and spat a small green bubble the size of a cherry at the dozen net missiles launched at them.

A faint shimmer appeared in Gregory's eyes as he thrusted upwards, turning the staff part so the defused torch would hit the bubble first. FWOOOOSH! A brilliant azure flame ignited the torch, giving off a fresh scent of grilled fish once Gregory stopped, turned and rapidly jousted the nets with the blazing blast of intense fire. "Hotspot Hyperjab!" He yelled, burning away any nets that approached him, but backed away slowly from the monitor lizard that could go more than 30 mph at any time. The beast snarled, flapping it's wings a few times in frustration despite the fact that it couldn't fly, snapping at the two.

"**EXCELLENT WORK! MY TURN: DRAGON TWISTER CLAW**!" Bolero yelled, as a few new spinal tendrils emerged from his right arm, curving to form a drill-like weapon around his clawed hand. Turning around, he leapt forward to drive the deadly weapon to pierce through the skull. Only for the lizard to revert back to Albatross form, narrowly flapping backwards to avoid the attack which pierced through a foot of concrete but hindered by the heavy weaponry it carried on it's back.

**"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME**!" Bolero roared angrily, giving chase after the mutant hawk and sucking in about a cup's worth of water at a time before spewing out red bubbles at the creature. "**B-O-O-M BUBBLE LOCK-ON**!"

Swish! Swish! Clang! Clang! Moving like a gazelle, Alto cheated death again and again by the thread of a hair by moving around the segmented twin swords that danced like quicksilver in the moonlight, leaping about on the bead of his foot. Apparently the swords were made of the same material as the tri-lance, putting the two mid-range experts at a troublesome stalemate.

The fire had gone out of the broken sword by now, yet it was still effective as a dagger, stabbing a few thin cuts on Alto's chest armor and arms. A very fast upperhand swing divided that nuisance in half, as well as the right hand. Red Warden bellowed out in pain, looking at the bone marrow and severed veins exposed, the glove already ripped and unusable.

"**Three Finger Cauterization**:1 string cuts the armor, the next through flesh and bone and the third seals it off but deals the worst pain imaginable. Even the toughest Logia Users (other than Crocodile) fall prey to this technique." Alto grinned with a insane smile, his thick glasses shining darkly in the light.

"This little wound can be healed up..." Red hissed, knowing that the Clinic had Timekeeper ready to repair major wounds big and small. He snap-kicked out with his right foot, just as Alto bended over in a full nelson yoga pose to avoid getting hit by the needles, then stood back up again.

"Maybe so, but a Marine that turns it's back on the World Government will always receive the judgment they deserve." Alto said, shifting his arms and shoulders to relocate the stiffness of the spine. Running forward, he pulled back both hands and then sent them out in forward, twisting and maneuvering each finger joint to curve the string's path. "**Double Hand Hangman**."

A tight, thin feeling of restriction caught Red's left leg, then the right arm. "Wha-!" He gasped, as four invisible strings tightened around his waist, easily cutting through the body armor but stopped at the skin. The right leg and the left arm were the next to go, preventing Red from deploying either the segment sword or kick using the sai needle spreader or the extendable tri-lance.

"My Justice is Tolerance. As long as a person does not attack the innocent or kill off those who work normal lives, I will accept them. But if they cross the line, the consequence is dire. Therefore, I relieve you of your title and rank as a Navy Captain by order of the World Government, and then give you the same treatment of a sea bandit." He said cruelly, flinging his hands backwards but keeping his ring fingers straight out. "EXECUTION!"

It was over in an instant, Red Warden no longer could stand nor move his arms. A puddle of his own blood came out of his mouth, 5 of his ribs were broken since the strings put too much pressure but didn't slice through. Alto watched on as the mutant dinosaur tried to move on it's stomach, yelling out curses. However, all four limbs were still attached for some reason but deep red lines appeared where the strings were.

"I cut into the musculocutaneous nerve of the joints, don't bother getting up or using your swords." Alto said, starting to calm down again in order to dissipate the dark fog around him. 'That was close...I hate it whenever I lose my cool.'

"You...beast!" WHACK! Red's face was kicked hard by the leather boot upon saying that, Alto looking rather mad at the choice of words.

"I'm the beast? Me? I actually do my job protecting the innocent, you're working with sea bandits with killer sponges! I kept you alive for judgment, not my own amusement, you selfish jock!" Alto growled, stomping his foot awhile attempting to settle down. "I know you lost your memory but I will not accept you mocking me when I took you down." CHOMP! "Okay, really not helping. Even though your dinosaur is a plant-eater." He gritted his teeth, since the long neck sprung out to bite down on his shin, drawing some blood as a result. Even though he didn't have a lot of body strength, he poked the zoan's right eye to make him release the grip, then roundhouse kicked the head to KO him in a single hit.

Red Warden crumbled like a fold-up paper bag, his spirit to fight gone out of his mouth and his body reverted back to human form.

"You may be a formidable foe in the Navy, but I am sent by the high ranks of the Gorosei to pick up jerks like you. Know your place.." He whispered, then turned to walk (with a slight limp) towards Bolero to offer assistance.

--

Cold. That was the only word to describe a morgue with the indifference of a soulless person. Requiem couldn't smell the decay of rotting flesh but she could tell that the heartbeats were stilled on the stainless steel tables. Saws, hammers, spikes, knives, forks, pencils, steaks, salamis, and dead carcasses of humans were strung about the gray room, the food stuff was on the plates still warm.

No doubt there was a chilling air, the air of the supernatural that could send grown men crying. (OOC: and believe me, I have a earache listening to those guys from Ghost Hunters.) Blue flames emerged from the walls like dipping into puddles, floating above her head and around the hunks of rotting flesh and bone.

"..." Using her left hand, she pulled out 6 ofuda scrolls out of her breasts by opening her navy jacket, chanting with her other hand in a monk-like fashion. A room exorcism was needed for this area, but first she had to know what she was dealing with. As long as the ghosts were there, some of them may be the souls of the guards that were killed in battle, reaching out to take any navy person to the grave with them.

To her, they cause bad luck for the investigation, since she found 3 of her men buried under a broken staircase awaiting death and freed them with her drill arrowheads. Despite being intangible, the corrupt souls could still 'melt' the metal just by touching it, the freezing temperature of which could break down physical structures and snap it apart like a straw. How troublesome for a Miko to clean up after them, as she swiftly threw the seals to the floor, ceiling, front, back and side walls in the matter of a minute. **"...Area Seal..."** She whispered, the very room turning a greenish aura. Even if the person who came back or a guard passed by, she would be unseen until the ritual was complete. She was trespassing in ghost territory after all, the seals were to draw in and keep the spirits inside.

Human forms formed out of the blue flames, pale-skinned and without legs, most likely those who suffered and were killed outright by bullets and the surgery. Others looked demented with red flesh and bulbous eyes, the kind of spirits that looked for trouble and played pranks on those who deserved it. Arms reached out to her, trying to grab her clothing only to be held back by a invisible wall of some sort.

_"Help us..."_

_"Release me..."_

_"Where is my mommy? Mommy!"_

_"So you can see us, big deal!"_

_"Am I dead?"_

_"My body, they destroyed it!"_

_"Save me!"_

_"Kill us!"_

Requiem just ignored the pleas, knowing that the seal would restrain the spirits until the ritual was over. Licking her pointed finger, she gathered iron fillings around the fingertip to reshape it into a thick 2 inch arrowhead. Carefully, she jabbed it into the concrete floor, sending up a spark or two once she began to draw a peculiar circle without a compass. The circle itself was about 4 foot wide in diameter; with four half circles at each corner to form a curved box, and several layers of circles with ancient inscriptions in the center.

Human lives were delicate like eggshells, the drawing would be the blender to handle the eggshells insides, which her miko magic would be the power source to control it. White smoke that smelt of incense came out of it, burning the red skinned spirits awhile attracting the pale skinned into the circle. "...**Seal Open**..." She murmured, grasping her hands in prayer and sitting on her legs as if she was on a bench pew in a church.

To her, it was just her business to exorcise the building before the Leviathan destroyed it with the cannons and mortars onboard, since it was only logical to eradicate a top secret threat that the general public must not know about. Sure, they would have to relocate the prisoners to the Red Line to be drafted into the Navy or into the Merchant field, but the Genova Corps would have to be eliminated to prevent them from being loose-lipped. She heard about it from the ghost that possessed her, a Devil Fruit Factory is one of the abominations that must never be used for piracy otherwise the seas would be overrun by insane people like the Wardens.

That's when the real terrors started to creep out of the woodwork, the kind that didn't even seem human at first glance. What with the bumps on their heads, the 4 chins, bugged-out eyes, carnivore-like teeth, pinkish-yellow skin and the slender limbs with razor talons. Or the white serpents hovering with red eyes and a froggish-like face. They ignored her working, passing by and going through the nearest wall like it was a daily occurance. For in the spirit world, a Miko such as her was the same as a onmyouji, a Youkai killer, even though she wasn't really into such nonsense.

The circle began to unravel itself despite it being etched into the concrete, the white skinned spirits that got too close were dragged in by the magic vaccum and vanished inside with a flash of pure light. Red skinned souls screeched out in anger, clawing out to rip off her eyes and flesh for their own sick desires only to be held back by the barrier she placed. "...Nail Seal..." She said to herself, forming two crosses of iron fillings to pierce and engrave their mark on the circle (one a , the other a x, both on top of each other).

Rather violently, the red skinned beasts bloated like balloons once the new sealing circle was 'redrawn', their fate was to die with dishonor at Requiem's hands. With corruption, their sins had caught up to their souls and thus they fall apart bursting at the seam with pus in the cut wounds.

That was when the steel doors were unlatched behind her, small drills protruding to break away the iron lock she fashioned by twisting a small part of the metal bar. Requiem didn't expect company, but the ritual was far from imperfect. It's not like anyone could see her with the barrier up, and it was far too dangerous for normal people to walk around since the hostile souls would attempt to forcefully 'takeover' their bodies to save themselves from being blown to bits.

She could hear deep breathing behind her, the kind that scuba divers do underwater with heavy footsteps approaching the tables. Heavyset man, about 1500 lbs or more, thin yet muscled, prefers his right, doesn't drink or smoke, wears a large cloak on the body, has a wedgie-like walk, and seemed only half human. All this was analyzed by the heartbeat and the sound of the footsteps, the latter had left the floor.

Barely putting any effort, she leaned to the side as Timekeeper flew over her, forming a new bow ever so slowly in her gloved hands. With her iron fillings running low, she would have to take him out quickly before the bow would vanish. "...Gabriel Lock-On..." She murmured, drawing back a thin particle string once the figure landed on both feet. Now that she had a better look at the face, he had a wide toucan-like nose, a bald head with a patch of white hair above each ear, and beady black eyes filled with hate.

**"Stooooreee Stoooreee: Reeed Baaall Vooolleeyyy**." He mouthed, throwing up his arms as a massive swarm of red colored spheres appeared before him and launched themselves like bullets.

"...**Gabriel Metal Storm**..." She whispered in a dead tone of voice, releasing the string to fire off her own volley of metallic iron arrows.

"Hmmm...**Spheeereee Breeeaaakeeer**!" Twisting his hands, Timekeeper grinned slyly as the balls collided, then was sent back by the impact shockwave of the mini-ball explosions. The iron fillings were extinsigned in a heartbeat, melted into gray puddles from the heat. Requiem sighed, barely even feeling the rush of air or the heat hitting her body once she stood up.

"...troublesome..." She muttered, getting out a new burlap bag from her belt and loosened the string binding it. Putting a hand out, she placed a small handful of iron fillings upon it which was barely enough for a few arrow storms. Or maybe a single Arrowhead Drill depending on how wide she made it. How annoying.

However, unlike her, Timekeeper hadn't seem to have restrictions on the weapon ammo. Silver and blue spheres began to emerge out of his palms, hovering in mid-air due to the small propellers on top. Hidden compartments inside each of them opened up, revealing three curved blades and a cranial drill that spun to jab deep holes in the flesh. Others had small 6 inch sawblades or a gun barrel sticking out of the front, gathering in packs to surround the room. Even her ofuda scrolls were torn off the walls, revealing her whereabouts to him.

He was a Army Builder, a Class B fighter who rarely did much fighting but left it to the creations made. And if she managed to penetrate the hundreds of mechanized clockwork balls designed to cut her up into chunks of flesh and meat, he was more than compatible of handling such weak arrows at close angle. "Coooomeeee aaand meeeeet yooouur deemiiisee..." He said, commencing the counter-attack on her from all sides.

"..." If she felt any fear at all, she certainly didn't show it facing the spheres with a blank look of indifference. After all, she had a extra ace in her hand unknown to the geezer, ready to pounce.

--

Inch by inch, the large metal cylinder was being yanked out of the floor with the wires snapping apart and the screws broken. The man who was with the Doctor, aka Fathead with Flan, was slowly lifting it out with his fingers puncturing through the titanium steel encasing around it with his knobby knees shivering from the cold.

The syringe with the blood that the Mermaid collected had already been injected into the capsule, and the health monitors immediately resonated to perform a heartbeat display. The Mermaid who brought it was then sent to her darkened room with a pat on the back and triple rations, but the damage was done now that the blood of the near-extinct Dragonfish Merman and the blood of Alto was inside.

Lungs inflated with air, nerves were tingling with small traces of electricity, brain activity was slowly growing, all of this and more was displayed on the monitors on the cylinder meant to keep the patient inside. To him, a slight imbalance might as well detonate a nuclear bomb at ground zero, so handling it with his powerful yet gruesomely ugly hands was a key factor to survival. After all, now that the 'egg' had gained some warmth, it's now time to take out onto a warmer climate for it to hatch.

"Director, is it that time already?" The fathead twisted his neck 180 degrees around, nearly snapping his spine to see the Doctor in the doorway with a cup of Jaya coffee in his right hand. The good Doctor looked rather stern, reasonably upset that his boss was taking the prime specimen that he had to destroy a entire town on a glacier to find.

The Director only smiled, showing his rotten gums and cavity-infested yellow teeth from eating so much flan and never brushing. "Doctor, doctor, doctor...as much as I approve of this plan, you and I both know that HIS security is top priority regardless of how much you wore them down. If the enemy only knew, then this island would have been Buster Called a hundred times over so that nothing remains of him. He needs to be moved NOW."

"Hah, laughable at best." Doctor chuckled; just as the walls around them fell down to reveal that the Office was just another prop stage. Outside of the perimeter were green glass tubes with humans trapped inside, their bodies surgically modified and spliced to become lethal chimeras with limited intellgence. "To be afraid of the Navy when we came this far is the coward's way out. We have a army, money, experiments, chimeras, connections and a soon-to-be-revived fallen angel."

"All of which will be blown away!" The Director screamed in his ear, suddenly closing the distance between them and getting foamy spit on the face. "I hired you to manage the operation and all of the Wardens have failed to quell this problem. Even their ship has left the port now that their resuppling is complete, no doubt to use their cannons to blow holes in the coral for a Den-den Mushi to transmit a signal."

"Which is impossible since we ran tests on the coral regeneration speed." The Doctor said calmly, walking amongst the test tubes with hands behind his back. "Only a miracle can save them now which only we can do in this clinic. Timekeeper is going to subdue the priestess now that she is low on that ammunition, the sniper is outnumbered by my bioengineered mutant humans controlled by the immortal Dreamweaver who can simply acquire anyone who is asleep to do her bidding, and the Doctor is about to meet his end at my apprentice, the Bookworm." Reaching into his left palm, he pulled out a gallon bucket of flan from the white glove and handed it to his superior.

"And what of the Badger Brat and the Helmsman? I know that you were planning on training her to kill me to get my seat on the Council." The Director mused, accepting the gift with suspicion.

"Jester is handling that as we speak, although I hear from my soldiers that over 35 percent of the complex 2nd floor has been demolished since whatever attack he uses just gets her madder and more crazy. A natural berserker. As for the captain and the self-proclaimed 'god', I will handle the problem with a simple lure." Moving in front, he pushed aside a heavy metal door to enter a well-lit room the size of a football stadium (or 1/4 of the building's diameter).

Being on the 5th floor on a transparent Plexiglas skywalk, the two looked downwards on the 1st floor where a tremendous amount of soldiers stood at attention, their single hand-mounted machine-guns and rapiers ready to be used. A thousand men, each armed to the teeth and pumped up with muscle from the Doctor's prescribed, unique, no side-effects steroids. Their armor was jet black with spikes along the shoulder blades, sword fins attached to the arms, and a more densely made helmet (with black wings on the sides) to withstand a truck driving over it.

The elite of the elite. The cream of the crop. Out of the hundreds of thousands of Genova Corp members, each of them were well-trained in the art of war and hand-to-hand combat, to blast the wings off a ladybug with a precision aimed bullet. All of them trained killers ready to hunt for the sake of bloodlust and thrills.

"This, Director, is my ace in the hole. The **Ranth Annihilation Troop**, all hand-picked and surgically remodified by me. The lure will be the people trapped in their cells, 'freed' by me pulling the switch, but only the ones who had not consumed that of the fruits I have given them. Homo sapiens like those weaklings will be perfect for a test run of my ground troops." The Doctor smirked, his smile twisted and deformed with ravenous blackened teeth watching the men perform a series of thrusts and lunges with the sabers.

The Director's eyes glinted, uncertain if he heard the madman right. "You mean that you plan a massacre of the unused test subjects to draw them to you? A very diabolical plan. Perhaps I misjudged your talent for strategy." He watched the Doctor clap his hands together, then spread them open to reveal a golf club and then a golf ball that fell on the floor.

Grasping the hilt of the club with both hands, he shifted his butt up and down awhile wiggling his body in a weird fashion to line up his swing. "Humans are like golf balls, easy to buy and simple to break. We evolved behind that notion once we obtained our gift from Satan himself, to walk the Earth but not the Seas. And it was there that humans ruined the air, the soil, the trees, and the very environment. We are outcasts, and soon the 4th Mass-Extinction will occur for anyone who isn't a gifted Homo Superior." He struck it hard, which bounced off the front wall, ricocheted off the side left wall, bounced all over on the helmets of the soldiers below, bounced off a rapier thrust, ricocheted upwards from a wall, then headed straight towards the Doctor's skull with the force of a bullet.

"Alto will see in time my vision, and most of his crew will be killed by my elite troops once the Surgeon Generals finish up beating them to a pulp. And once HE is revived, we can put a stop to this Kindachi Goten Sankaku bullcrap. The last thing we need hindering our progress is a Pirate King to raise the hopes and dreams of the people we want to rule..." The Doctor laughed with his tongue out, and his face cross-eyed in a comical fashion. Then he became uber-stern once more in under a second. Very suddenly, his hand flashed and the golf ball vanished instantly. Pressing his other hand on the hilt and pressing down, the club seemed to dissipate into his arm as if going up his sleeve. If it wasn't for them being rolled up leaving only the glove and his fleshy arm.

The Director sighed, rolling his eyes at the Doctor's odd mood swings. "Very well, terminate the experimental cattle then since they have no use without being fed a fruit of the devil. But make certain that all the bodies are consumed by the BioxSponges, I hate it when my loafers are dampened with gunk."

The Doctor saluted to that, bowing down to show his gratitude for retaining his rank and authority over the base of operations. He couldn't wait to deploy his special forces to overcome Alto by sheer numbers and firepower. "You have my word as a professional Sea Bandit of Medicine, Director."

"Hmmph. Just don't get carried away with that power of yours like you usually do, Rossi Greenwood. I don't want another island to be leveled. I will see you later depending on your success of capturing Alto and the girl." Director huffed, sticking out his chest and carried the heavy life support container out the door.

The Doctor only smirked as the chubby man left, taking out a small pistol out of his palm for future preparation as he put it in his pants pocket. "Farewell to you as well, Director, head of the USPA project..."

* * *

Juryrig Juryrig-Allows the user to combine pieces of junk to form a non-living golem with deadly attack power or combine it to him/herself.

Jijutsu Art: Titan Whirlwind-A 360 spin, grab and flip manuever.

Cast Away Storm-A barrage of thrusts that reflects attacks and then drives a opponent back.

Dino Dino: Therizinosaur-A plant-eater twice the size of a T-Rex due to the long neck and standing upwards. Fast, agile, with sickle-like claws

SPINAL RAVAGE-A Curling defense of tendrils that he can use to protect him from cannon balls, unfortunately if the tendrils are new, they are prone to breaking.

Lizard Lizard Fruit:Model Megalania-A actual monitor lizard that lives in Australia, eats deer and other animals.

Gianni-Red Warden's giant steed, capable of snapping humans apart in single bite and extremely fast for it's size.

Double Hand Hangman-Binds the person's arms and legs, then pulls at the waist to break ribs, and then cuts the nerves controlling the limbs to render them helpless.

MINI B-O-O-M BUBBLE-A small ball of fire that is usually for lighting a tunnel or hit someone in the eye to blind them.

Store Store fruit-Allows the user to place a certain item in their body, which is then mass-produced and even improve the lethalness of the inside weaponry over time. Paramecia fruit.

Store Store: Red Ball Volley-Sends a wave of spheres that melt metal and flesh.

Sphere Breaker-Detonates the hovering ball to consume and destroy the metal materials.

Jaya coffee-Made of baseball sized coffee beans, can keep a person energized for 24 hours and then puts them on the toilet for half that amount of time. Very expensive due to piracy and merchant dealings.

Helmsman-The one that steers the ship and knows his way around the sea, Bolero also fixes the rudder and pushes the ship if in a Calm Belt.

Ranth Annihalation Troop-The Doctor's personal army, worthy of the strongest Surgeon General. Capable of converging on a single target and subduing him/her in a matter on minutes.

Homo Superior-Clearly the Doctor has a Magneto complex. It will be explained more clearly later on what his goals are for the Clinic as a whole.

Kindachi Goten Sankaku-a tale of how the next Pirate King is selected, considered to be nonsense since the Surgeon Generals work on facts instead of idiotic folk tales that will never come true.

Rossi Greenwood-195 million bounty doctor pirate, strongest of the Surgeon Generals. Said to unleash massive colleteral damage on multiple islands, kidnapping the young and old for experiments of the worst kind and poisoning wells. His power is unknown but is rather dangerous to get such a high bounty in a few years time.

USPA project-A organization designed for the sake of rebuilding the world, even if people are sacrificed for it.


	23. Dawn of a New Era, Prelude's conclusion!

Drode: (walks in, looking rather ticked off) Hello, ladies and germs! Sorry about the delay, final exams and all that.

SH:( calls to him from backstage) Are you sure that I have to hold these magma rocks for a hour? I already told you that I'm sorry!

Drode: I don't care what you say, you wasted valuable time! Now write up the next chapter or I'll beat you senseless with my cattle prod! (chases after him with a over-sized spiked mace)

SH: (runs for his life offstage) I'll write it! Just stop chasing me! And please leave a review, folks, if you can!

OC Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, nor the DU as it is the property of GrandLordAtos who's book will be published late this summer. If I did, I would fill in a bit of action with the kidnappers and Zoro since I hope that it won't be a long uninteresting auction for a few chapters. I feel embarrassed that the First Mate of Roger's crew is selling himself when he could have paid the money back by coating ships.

Oh yes, and the first OP OC Roleplay has begun! Hopefully I'll get a few new crews later on for the next arc.

--  
Ch 23

_"Strings. Darkness. Plants. Fire. Spirit. Light. Lightning. Wind. Flowing water. Beast. These powers were the foothold of Gandros's main squadron when fighting against Atos's influence, but the world was hanging on for it's last breath. And then they appeared before the Leviathan, the Alter Beasts of Balance ..."_

A Red Light District. That's the sort of place that she would have to expect from a Hospital. Only, it wasn't the kind that Prelude expected when she ran through the double doors into an area filled with bright lights and polished surfaces. The smell of rotting flesh almost made her heave up her lunch before she regained control over her actions. Such thoughts would be a disgrace to the Hina Clan.

For instead of beautiful women inside cozy cottages waiting to be 'de-flowered', the girls lying on the beds were shriveled up and out cold, as well as the men on the other side. She recognized a few faces from her days in training, mostly mercenaries and double agent handlers of fine merchandise. Shackled with iron chains or seastone, their feet cleansed of socks and shoes, and covered over with a blue blanket drenched in blood.

Small silver tables were next to each of the beds, in the center was a medical drain filled with blood and pus in a narrow glass container. Laid out along each side of the drain were bone cutters, dermatomes, Gigli wire saws, leucotomes, scissors, rongeurs, and trephines plus a long list of scalpels in rolled up burlap sacks. All of which looked like they hadn't been washed or cleaned in ages.

'Great, they're in the organ selling business. And from the look of things, it's a convert black market smuggling operation. Why is it that I'm always going up against sickos?' Prelude wondered, putting away her bloody sawblades back into her knapsack awhile exploring the area. That flash bomb would distract the crowd for another two minutes and she needed to find new sawblades for battle.

Sadly, she didn't have her backup squad with her since they split up down to separate hallways with the mass majority following her along the floor, walls and ceiling. That sorta creeped her out since there was over a hundred of those ugly bastards and all of them were sleeping. How freaking rude!

'I prefer to let them see my face before I grill them...' She thought, dismantling the bone cutters using a screwdriver and a bobby pin. The saws weren't that large, maybe 8 inches or less, but they would be perfect to test her throwing arm. She pocketed them in her knapsack, 5 at a time from each silver table, unaware of the stirring of hands nearby.

The comatose victim slowly moved his torso forward, his eyes shut with his arms limp. His liver, most of his teeth, and half a lung was forcibly taken out, and his head was shaven for the sake of making a profitable wig like many of the patients in the room. However, the words that he made out chilled Prelude to the bone; "Found you..."

Prelude turned around, only to find the man had fallen back on the mattress, too injured to move properly. 'Swell...they found me again. I swear, I am so going to find a way to isolate Dreamweaver and kick her butt!' She groaned in thought-form, then quickly moved one of the beds in front of the double doors. Then another one on top to weigh it down.

She could feel the room shake and rattle as the first wave attacked the walls, pounding with reinforced fists made to turn bricks into gravel. About 30 mini-sawblades were collected by then, enough to cut a few throats. Putting away the screwdriver, she braced herself with both flare guns loaded and equipped with red ammo.

'If only I had the **Light Ball Cannon**...but it's too expensive for my monthly salary.' She thought, as the first fist broke through, the fingers stained red and halfway broken. Instantly she took aim and fired a round at the hand to set the person on the other side ablaze, cooking him alive. 'Now that I think about it, red flares are only good for burning a person. Green Flares would be more suitable since these things are too sleepy to notice their flesh melting.' She unclipped her magazines back into her cartridge straps and reloaded on green flares instead. "Much better."

More and more of the stone wall crumbled away from the fierce barrage of punches, and the swarm of biologically enhanced humans who were under Dreamweaver's control crawled through the 3 foot tunnels and jumped onto the floor. Prelude grinned, knowing that she would going to have some fun with these bozos.

The closest towards her leapt with jaw wide open, which she went in quickly to empty a round down his throat by pressing the barrel between the teeth and pulling the trigger. He went down instantly, clawing at his chest in agony and then expired. 'Blasted dog...' She thought, knowing there was no helping it. Their minds were wiped clean, their freedom to choose taken from them. They were no less than animals with instinct to kill, but because they were in a pack, that was the one thing that bothered her. Hina Style worked on a 1-on-1 principle, without someone guarding her back she could be mortally wounded.

No matter. She swerved to the right to avoid a narrowing fingernail scythe slash, roundhouse-kicking her opponent into a nearby wall (which he flipped backwards to bounce off of it) and then fired a noxious green flare at his face. It blew a gaping hole in his forehead, melting away the flesh and brain matter and exited out the other side. Without pausing, she reared back her right arm to fire a round at a approaching foe to nail him in the chest, then a second one for good measure.

Suddenly, two rushed her on both sides, deeply cutting into her back with the long nails, but were shot in the back once she spun and fired 4 rounds to the head and butt (the latter was because of the wound making her feel nauseous).

"Surrender, my dear. I don't want my precious merchandise being ripped apart when I can make you one of my pets." Dreamweaver's voice came from one of the freakish humans, which his head was consumed in flames from a flare. Prelude blew the smoke off the barrel, unfazed by this threat.

"I think I'll take the risk, you old hag." She smirked, emptying magazines and inserting new ones, unlocking the safety switch as well. The cuts weren't life-threatening, but they would hinder her running ability. Not that she needed to run from the ever-growing masses of carnage which flattened the beds and pushed them away to let the entire horde in the room.

"HAG? You'll pay for that you wretch!" Dreamweaver howled through the mouth of another person, sending four at a time to take her down. No sense sending everyone in, she'll carve out her entrails herself if need be.

"That your best?" Prelude asked, springing upwards to jump on one of the combatant's heads, and then bounced to land on another one. She took a second to aim for a head shot between each jump, pulling the trigger to take down another opponent. On one of them, she jumped up when the beastly man attempted to grab her, flipped with her right leg out and her left bent inwards, and slammed the jerk's face into the pavement with a heel to the skull. "Sundown Drop!"

Getting up, she was violently shoved by one of them but stood her ground, the wind knocked out of her chest. "So...it's going to be like that, huh?" She groaned, feeling a rib slightly crack. Spinning around on one heel and reloading, she shot the assailant in the right foot to disable his movement.

'Got to move and take less injuries...' She thought, going into full-out attack mode and her mouth foaming with vengeance. Or from the pain she took, she couldn't tell.

Anyway, the legions of crazy man-killers never saw her coming at them so quickly with a thick cloud of red smoke emitted from her flares (which she shot in a circle around her).

"Nebula Fog!" She yelled, reloading back to her regular flares now that the senses of the beasts were dulled for a few more minutes until the flares ran out of juice. Not exactly the best technique, but a sniper must always have a camping spot to hide in plain sight.

Flipping the guns downwards, she plowed down the frontlines with a strong volley to the knees and arms, then snap-kicked any who lurched towards her on their stomach or buttocks. True, she couldn't see or hear any of them, but that was what Navy training prepared her for, to move in the dead of night to take out guards in pitch black darkness or infiltrating a sewer tunnel with no lighting.

Three were K.O.ed once she pistol-whipped them in the forehead, but felt one of them rake her leg with fingernails. She kicked that jerk out the door to bowl over a approaching group of reinforcements followed by Genova Corp guards. Their guns all went off without warning, gunshots ringing out and ricocheting off the walls to take out the reinforcements one at a time.

"Come on! Come on! I'm right here, you pansies!" She crowed, falling backwards awhile flipping her flares around to avoid a pincer attack from the front and behind, her fingertips touching the floor as the two collided in mid-air and mistakenly attacked each other with their fangs and nails. She spun around to insert her flare guns back into their separate holsters, then walked on her hands with her legs positioned a half foot from the ground.

It was a rather comfortable exercise whenever she wanted to get a midnight snack, her hands being too soft to make a noise to alert the cook of a possible raid. And since the others were on their hands and feet, they would look for a person who can only walk on her two legs. Her taunt was to draw them in further into the red smoke for the group to slowly thin themselves out, awhile she moved outside of it to fire into the crowd when they couldn't tell where the flares are coming from.

'Like shooting a Walrus in an oil tank...' She thought happily, enjoying her somewhat brilliant plan sneaking out of the smoke radius. She noticed the reinforcements were getting back up, so with one hand supporting her from the ground, she gave a upside-down "V for Victory hand-sign" to the Genova Corp guards. 5, no, 8 of the 30 armed guards secretly nodded to acknowledge that signal awhile the rest charged in with high-powered rifles firing randomly in the smoke to kill her.

She auto-aimed, flipping forward to get back on her feet awhile taking out the flares and reloading a new magazine for each. Swerving with grace worthy of a gymnast, she moved out of the way of a fierce barrage of bullets that tore up the floor and a few of the man-monsters, her eyes tracking the distance and speed of each round in real time. Being as smart as she was, she would tell what model of gun they had, the make of each bullet, the mechanisms that launched it, how much gunpowder was used and so on, but that didn't mean she was invincible. If she allowed them to group up, then it would be like trying to avoid a rainstorm in only her PJs.

Strafing around the hospital beds for cover, Prelude moved to take out one gunman after the next, aiming only for those who didn't have their pinky finger up when firing aimlessly. Cotton foam spilled out of the mattresses from the spread of bullets, as then brave, courageous men rushed in the thick red smoke killing anything that moved (save themselves).

2 of the flares were taken out in a hurry, but the intruders had made their move, switching from long-to-short range by taking out specialized tungsten daggers from hidden pouches. With caution, the daggers were driven hard into the abdomen and twisted hard, then removed to drop the body on the floor. Trained in the art of reconnaissance, they were trained directly under Nocturne, the head of the Assassin Department and had their sense of self removed to kill their opponent without mercy.

It was like a massive scramble for dominance inside the smoke cloud, navy men killing soldiers, soldiers killing navy men, and the beast-like beings killing everyone with a pulse. That was how merciless Dreamweaver was, tearing through the unarmored throats and chomping on hands to disarm the weaponry.

'It's like a day at the carnival and I'm at the Duck Hunt game, my favorite test of accuracy!' Prelude squealed in thought, switching to red flares and blasting away at the individual targets. Many of the semi-naked monster humans shrieked from the hits, their flesh melting and unable to sense where the bullets were coming from.

"Prelude, stop firing! You're attacking us as well!"

"Don't let them hit you! Two rounds equals instant cremation!"

"Gaaaaa! It burns!"

"Die, impostor!!" BLAMM! BLAMM!

"No, you die! We upgraded the armor, jerk!"

"Get this creature off me!" FWOOOSH! "Thanks, Prelude, but be careful!"

"They're everywhere! Take them out with the tear gas!"

It was absolute havoc, the fog of war that filled her with a surge of adrenaline. As such, there were no rules when everyone looked the same, like the civil wars that her people had over hundreds of years. Her flare guns were now blazing wildly, her crazy laughter contagious as she moved in for the kill.

BLAMM! BLAMM! Two bullets nearly got her by accident, but she swerved out of the way and allowed them to hit the nightraider behind her. "Blah..." She blew a raspberry at the attempted attack, then fired a round to ignite the flesh for immediate termination. "Idiot, don't try that on a Navy Lieutenant." She muttered, then flew forward to her allies, firing on both sides with a fan pattern in her arms.

More and more fell because of this 'friendly fire', all because she was in a pised off mood. 'Where the heck is she already? All I'm getting are the lame grunts!' She huffed, twisting around halfway to nail a jumping Night Raider in the chest sending it backwards. Rinse. Repeat. 'And why can't these guys take a hint that a sniper can never be attacked from behind?'

Clik! Clik! "Hmm?" She looked down, realizing her flare ammunition belt was currently empty. "Crap...I should have taken my mechanic's advice..."

_-Flashback, 4 days ago-_

_In a small yet roomy wooden room aboard the Leviathan, Prelude paced the floor in a worn out brown circle waiting for her upgrade. Out of the clubs that the Gandros Leviathan is known for, like cooking, appraising, manga, history, translating, gun assembling and so on, the only club that she could work with was the engineering club. Which only had two members: the missing Shipwright whom she hated since he was a skirt lifter, and Donald the apprentice._

_Now, Donald was a well-kept sort of person with slicked-back hair and a greasy after-shave (with bandages, since he apparently was afraid of looking into mirrors). Wearing a t-shirt with oil swears and baggy blue jeans, he was considered to be a better shipwright than his master since he never left the job half done. However, he was a punctual character when it came to making a piece of equipment 'perfect' so it took weeks or more for him to put in even a screw in place to patch up a leaky hole._

_His way of thinking was shot down once Prelude threatened to throw him overboard into a Sea King's mouth (which Alto later chopped apart with one swing with his hand). With baggy eyes and a dried mouth, he walked over to her with two belts meant for the legs, with mini-flare magazines strapped to them._

_"Here you go, I made a adjustment to that worn-out ammo belt of yours. Each mini-magazine carries 12 rounds, in which the belt holds 10 magazines. That means you can hold up to 240 rounds in one sitting, but due to your reckless behavior shooting anything that moves, I want you to promise me that you will count your shots. A sniper should always keep track of how many bullets were spent, for if you run out without knowing in a gun fight, your opponent's gun would be fully loaded by then. Be cautious." Donald warned her with a grave expression, handing the expensive piece of equipment._

_He was rewarded with a peck on the cheek instead of a bullet to the face like he predicted, causing him to blush a little. "Relax, I'm a pro at what I do. Don't worry about the small stuff..." She said calmly, wishing she wouldn't have to play the romance card when she was in love with Nocturne._

_-End Flashback-_

'240 lousy rounds...I am so going to kill him for making such a small number.' She thought, pistol-whipping one of the beasts that charged at her, shattering a few teeth in the process. 'Still, I do have a few large saw blades left in my pouch. And the smaller ones, but in-between each 5 minutes I have to take a antidote pill.' She thought, taking out a pill and swallowing it.

It tasted horrible, but the only other way was to get the actual antidote or fall asleep again. The later option wasn't something that she wanted, that vile woman would only render her helpless in a horrible nightmare like the creatures around her, unable to speak or move by their own will. She heard of a Major in the Navy who could manipulate sleep, but this was on a whole new level.

'I suppose I have to count these too..' She thought, watching closely as the flares began to die out and the smoke cleared ever so slowly. Taking out 2 mini-sawblades in each hand, she sent them upwards at nearby emergency sprinkler valves with pin-point accuracy and precision.

Snit! Snit! Snit! Snit! 'What the?'

Apparently, the Doctor wasn't a fan of a water bill so he preferred no one bathe or drink clean water save for him and his Generals via a stolen pipe from the town's water supply. Thus, no sudden downpour to continue hiding her scent. "Shoot..." She muttered angrily, smashing in the closest Genova Corp soldier's helmet with an explosive punch.

With him down, she rechecked her arsenal as the hordes regrouped for one final attack to completely dogpile her into unconsciousness. 26 mini-sawblades, 3 large sawblades (drenched in blood), and the empty Elephant Gun on her back. She couldn't waste the Elephant Gun on those saps, hand-to-hand then.

"ARRRRGH!" She roared, charging straight in awhile bringing back both arms in front of her, her fists reversed upwards. Taking this as a challenge now that they could hear clearly again, the legions flew at her with intent to slice her apart. "You really ticked me off now! **Neon Battering Ram**!" She yelled upon getting up close, unleashing a powerful volley of one-inch punches in front. Naturally, the Night Raiders were sent away from the barrage, but many stood their ground.

"**Neon Sweep**!" Bending down awhile running, she found herself skidding on a large puddle of wax with one leg out and both arms in clothes-line position. Genova Corp soldiers taking aim were bowled over by her frantic attack, then were stabbed by the impostor soldiers in the back before vanishing into the fight to take out more soldiers. A few seconds later, she skid to a halt on dry tile and took out a few mini-sawblades to accurately target the light fixtures on the ceiling.

"Lock-On!" She yelled, tossing the razor-edged circles to darken the area almost instantly, blowing out the light bulbs and the wires that powered them. Unlike the Night Raiders, she couldn't tell her position in the darkness but at least the Genova Corps were just as blind since their helmets were tainted black. "Arrrgh!" Without warning, one of the zombied humans sliced hard at the torso to draw blood, but she round-house kicked him through the nearest wall in retaliation (and suffering because of it).

'Blast it...' She thought, now limping through the crowd of frenzied soldiers and killer beasts, taking off her navy jacket so she could apply some bandages on the bleeding wound. Since Neosporin hadn't been invented yet, it hurt like hell when the patches were applied, but screaming would expose her location to them. Stepping on tip-toe and holding her breath, she calmly came from behind one of the Raiders, placed her hands quietly on each side of the head and twisted it violently to snap him out cold. Sensing danger, many Night Raiders began to approach the dead body but she was no longer in the area.

One was kicked hard in the chin before he even realized it, flipping up in the air backwards before a thick punch struck him hard in the chest, causing him to throw up blood and faint almost immediately. 'A sniper must always stay quiet and take out a opponent before he can attack, a predator that hides in plain sight.' She thought, jabbing three with a chain combination of one-inch punches to force them to turn on each other thinking the other hit them. One of them ended up with their head smashed into the floor once Prelude raised her foot over it slowly as to not give away her location.  
...

...

...

15 minutes passed, and pretty soon everyone was unconscious or half-dead, even her own allies since she couldn't tell the difference in the dark. Wandering about in the room, she stumbled on a unlit flare that was on the ground and picked it up with a uncapping motion. WHOOOSH! A thick stream of smoke and sparks shot out, illumining the place a bit for her to get her bearings.

'I don't have a lot of antidote pills left...those guys better hurry." She thought, walking ahead narrowing avoiding a outstretched blackened claw slashing silently downwards on her.

"You've done well for a youngling, I suppose..." Dreamweaver's sickly voice called out, as a blimpish green eye looked down at her from the ceiling. "But I hold the cards around here, now that the antidote's effects are slowly wearing off. Feeling woosy? Light-headed? Feel like you're going to faint away? The more you fought, the faster the chemicals went through your system. But for me, I don't have that problem. **Dream Dream Lucid!"**

From out of the walls, purple skeleton arms emerged by the dozens, each were covered with black veins and green mold surrounding them. Prelude looked on semi-helpless as the arms grabbed both her comrades and the downed soldiers as well as the hospitalized patients. She certainly didn't believe in ghosts despite living with Requiem the local Ghost Hostess, but the blue glowing naked bodies of the soldiers and marines being forcefully yanked out of the chest or backside by the bony talons proved otherwise, their screams apparently chilling to the core.

"How amusing, despite your skill, you decided to deal as much damage to knock the Genova Corp soldiers out but not kill them. Why is that I wonder..." Dreamweaver asked calmly, as the astral bodies were then piled in the center of the room like a large lump, illuminating the room to show that she was no longer standing on solid cement floor. Instead, it was more like she was standing on a living platform of flesh with black veins and green eyeballs staring back at her.

"...if you're trying to trick me with a illusion, it's not very good. Besides, we plan to use them for trial afterwards." Prelude huffed, not convinced of this display of power.

"My dear girl, with your mind drowsy, it allows you to fall into a daydream-like trance that grants you the ability to witness my true power. For when a person is knocked out for surgery, it's said they have a "out-of-body experience" or a lucid dream. Thus, I trade their life energy into a physical form for me to attack others in the real world awhile maintaining my immortality. And without flares, you cannot damage me very well." Dreamweaver hissed, as her large head appeared around the mass of blue bodies, encasing them in a thick barrier of ectoplasm and astral energy.

"**Dream Dream Amasse**!" The bull skull over-lapped over her head like a helmet, allowing her to grow enormous canine teeth. Prelude watched on, looking at the muscular, spiked arms that protruded from the front with car-crushing claws ready to strike. Four arms to be exact in the front, 6 legs in the back.

'This could be tricky...' She thought, since Dreamweaver was basically the size of 3 bull elephants height-wise and 5 adult camels length-wise. With those extra legs and the bulk not getting in the way of movement, Dreamweaver could move at a fast rate to outrun her and then plummel her to death.

"**Dream Dream Long-winded**!" Before she could come up with a strategy, Dreamweaver's four arms stretched out as if they were made of liquid silly putty towards her, each hand curled into a fist.

"HYYYYA!" Bounding out of the way of the first fist, she was slammed hard into the wall of living flesh by the other three (one hitting her left and right rib and the third at her stomach). The fists withdrew by a foot then punched even harder causing her to blank out for a second and spit up blood, then regained consciousness.

'Blast it!! What is with these soft punches! It's like getting hit with a pillow stuffed with small anvils!' Prelude gritted her teeth, curving her right arm to counter-block the individual attacks using the swan palm technique. Not exactly one of her best defenses, but it was a proven Hina defense pattern.

Slowly, the wall behind her, being made of wood and cardboard due to Dreamweaver's daydream illusion splintered from each blow until she found herself flipped over backwards and face-planting on normal tiles.

"**Dream Dream Extension**!" The second she got her bearings, the room slowly began to shift into a endless abyss of blackness with eyeballs and tentacles waving about.

"Darn that old hag..." Prelude spat out a tooth, licking the bloody gum as she got back to her feet. A slimy green tentacle attempted to wrap around her foot, by was severed apart by her mini-sawblade covering part of her socks with purple ooze. "Darn her!"

"Who are you calling a hag, youngling?" The wall shattered completely as Dreamweaver's giant skull burst through, only to see Prelude gearing up her fist.

She smirked, summoning a lot of strength into the single attack before the stunned Mistress of Dreams, "Immortality is okay, but once you turn solid, the blows will never go away in your mind. NEON CANNON!" With the force of a wrecking ball, she struck hard into the face of Dreamweaver with only the distance of an inch in-between, but it was enough force to send her flying out of the hole and into the next 4 walls which crumbled like buckwheat.

"Don't you ever screw around in my head, witch." She grunted, cracking a few knuckles on each hand with a smug look on her face.

"And you shouldn't bruise my fragile ego! **Dream Dream Ending**!" Dreamweaver grumbled, getting back to her 6 feet and opened her colossal jaw. Streams of purple energy appeared around her mouth, then began to get sucked into a marble-sized sphere of dark light. "One hit and you're a goner!"

'Not if I get there first...' She thought, going into a fast sprint and pulling out a few more mini-sawblades to launch into the mouth. They cut deeply alright, but it was if they passed through water instead of flesh and bone. A second later, the orb was the size of a tractor, and released a colossal beam of dark energy upon her.

"Watch out!!" Before she could even bring herself to dodge it, one of the soldiers ran to her side and dive-tackled her with a powerful shove to send her flying against a nearby wall (cracking another rib in the process). Through her hazy eyesight, she could see the beam consuming the soldier as he lost consciousness. A ebon hand streamed out of the mouth and slowly began to pull the blue spiritual form out of the host body, a person that she recalled at the hazing.

"David?" She murmured, rubbing her head looking at the golden-haired youth that made her laugh whenever it came to comedy hour on the ship. Getting back up, she ran over to his corpse to shake it hard for him to wake up, but he was out cold.

"Prelude..." His soul looked at her with longing eyes full of hardship and understanding. "I may not be the man that you want, but I will never forget the time we shared together. Never forget me..."

"What are you saying, you brat? Hurry up and become part of my body!" Dreamweaver shouted, pulling his legs harder to drag him into her open mouth.

"I refuse to be part of you in any way possible. But I will reward you a quick and painful death worthy of your name." His soul said calmly, shining brightly a green aura around his form.

"No..." Prelude knew what this meant, recalling what power he currently controlled. It wasn't the strongest of abilities, but it could only activate if certain conditions were met.

"**VITAL VITAL SELF-IMPLODE**!" As soon as he reached the wide-open jaw, strands of his own lifeforce lit up and attached themselves around the edges. Without warning, the ectoflesh began to bubble repeatedly like a heated pot of water and Dreamweaver felt the need to scratch herself all over as the teeth enclosed around him.

Boils erupted, and her tongue felt like it was on fire as she screeched in agony, but the damage was done in full. Cracks began to appear around her armor, causing the sleeping souls to seep through one at a time and slowly thinning the muscle mass. Prelude found herself pounded by a sudden ramming motion as Dreamweaver ran around the halls in a frenzy, tearing apart anything in her path including her own soldiers. Lifted onto the skull and avoiding the flesh-ripping fangs, she could feel the immense power build-up that David was making to destroy the immortal body from the inside-out with his own spirit at risk.

Naturally when something like that happened, Requiem would be on stand-by to 'catch' David's barely living spirit and place it back into his body to recover during practice sessions, but the somewhat mute priestess wasn't around this time. 'Shataki!!' She cursed, riding on the forehead and holding tight to a bull horn with one hand, the other searching for a large sawblade for usage. With Dreamweaver in such a crazy state, the state of her changing density was scrambled. Clik! Clik! Both 10 inch tungsten steel sawblades connected into the slots, then whirred lightly in place as she turned on the mechanical apparatus of her glove.

"My Justice is Grudge! All who make me angry will pay the Ultimate Price! **Sundown Splitter**!" She roared with a strong outcry, before driving the thick blade down into the skull with a hard impact. The power of her fist shook Dreamweaver up, as the cracks intensified and broke down the bone pattern. More and more spirits flew out and reconnected with their bodies on the floor no more worse for wear than usual. The muscle mass drained out quickly now, as Dreamweaver fell over on her noodle-like legs and arms, unable to manipulate them any farther than needed. Her form began to shrink inwards until she was human-sized again with the broken bull skull on her head, with Prelude standing before her with a proud smirk on her face.

"You think you're won? I will return sooner or later, girl. That boy may have corrupted my ability to transform, but I will come back even stronger, count on it!" Dreamweaver yelled, pointing angrily at her as her body turned transparent and faded away into the darkness of the hallway.

That was when Prelude fell back on her butt, utterly exhausted from the ordeal. The area also turned back to normal, and the lights were back on for some reason allowing her to look around at the moaning bodies struggling to get back up but couldn't. She could dream once more without someone taking over, but that would mean that the enemy might find her and use her as leverage to attack the crew.

Taking off the Elephant Gun from the strap, she slowly stood back up using it as a crutch to move around. "Geez, I'm dizzy.." She mumbled under her breath, her eyelids moving up and down due to the poison's effect.

And that was when the giant Ratel Badger zoan fell through the ceiling in front of her, snapping out of the trance in a hurry. Jester was currently sticking out of her jaws like a toothpick, struggling to stay alive using Tekkai to harden his body from being sliced into bite-sized chunks. "Holy--!"

"Grrrr?" Cresendo snorted, her mind completely void of rational thought save for hunger as she looked down at her comrade. "(Snort) Choo!" Sniffing the fragrance of Prelude's perfume, she violently sneezed and covered part of the hallway (and drenched Prelude) in green mucus. Covered in scars from taking the powerful attack earlier, she didn't seem to mind the battle damage as it only ripened her appetite for human flesh.

Trembling a little out of fear, Prelude knew that her chances of survival were slim at best. Even if she played dead, the legendary "Garbage Disposal" would eat her without even realizing who she was. 'Crap...' She thought, breaking into a fast run going purely on remnants of adrenaline, catching the behemoth's attention. The goliath monster snarled, going onto all fours and gave pursuit, destroying anything in her path that would obstruct it from consuming a delicious human meal.

"HWWWWRRRRRRROOOO!" The chase was on, and whoever lost at the end might as well be supper...

* * *

"Now, are you sure that this is the right way, Bolero?" Alto asked for the fifteenth time they passed the same drinking fountain that Gregory stuck a piece of wet gum on.

"**POSITIVE, CAPTAIN! I EVEN SEE THE BURN TRAIL OF THE NAPALM BLOOD FROM THE LAST TIME. THEY PROBABLY ARE RENDERING THE HALLWAYS SO WE KEEP COMING BACK TO THIS SPOT**!" Bolero yelled, vibrating the walls with his booming voice.

"How the heck can you stand being with him? My eardrums feel like they're about to break!" Gregory came next to Alto, whispering this in his ear.

"It ain't easy, but I grown used to his way of talking after a year. It's either this or Dolphin speak, and I can't understand him at all using the latter. Just go with it for now, we'll be out of your hair soon enough once we leave the island." Alto whispered back, taking a left turn.

"If we escape this ...y place first." Gregory said, looking around cautiously, "And with my brother."

"Relax, once we find one of our men, he'll use the Den Den Mushi to alert the others and all the cells will be opened. We can sort them out later." Alto chuckled, spinning his finger to leave a few deep gashes along a wall to mark it. "Still, they must have some incredible carpenters to constantly change our path into a loop."

"**WE'RE HERE**!" Bolero cried out warmly, interrupting their conversation as they came to a thick 500 cm door made of steel-reinforced concrete and platinum plating. It looked like it could hold up against a dozen bazookas and never break, with a timed lock and thick seastone hinges. "**MAN, IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I KNOCKED THIS STUPID THING DOWN! LOOK, YOU CAN SEE THE PUNCTURE HOLES THAT WERE FILLED IN**!"

The crazy merman kicked the vault door out of hatred since he liked the wounds that he had so painstakingly worked so hard to pierce through. "**AND WORSE YET, I CAN'T EVEN SENSE ANY NORMAL MOISTURE AROUND HERE**!"

"Yeah, my tongue is a bit on the ...-dry side for some reason." Gregory said plainly, rubbing the pink muscle with his hands. Alto shuddered just looking at that disgusting display.

"**NO MATTER! I'LL JUST DRILL A NEW HOLE THROUGH IT**!" Bolero said, now that he was given able time to regenerate the tendrils on his back since no one had chopped them off.

"Stop." That one word froze the Dragonfish hybrid in his tracks, as Alto stood forward with palms outstretched. "Do you seriously believe that the armor is as weak as the last time? It looks like a dialing of numbers is required on that knob thing which probably releases the dead-bolts on the other side. Let me have a go at it before you end up caving in the place."

Bolero snorted a few bubbles out of his nose, folding his webbed arms in displeasure. "**WHATEVER, JUST LET ME OUT OF THIS DUMP**!"

Leaning his ear and body against the vault door, he placed his hand around the number dial with his expression vacant. A twist to the right ended up in some slight ticking, which he stated the number. "Right 23." Then reversed the dial a bit to the left. "Left 26." Then spun it halfway to the right again. "Right 12."

Clik! Clik! Clik! The gears inside the vault door moved upon each other once the combination was complete, and the padlocks and dead-bolts slid away on the other side. "Perfect as always...I haven't lost my touch at all." He turned to see Gregory and Bolero gaping at him, with Bolero winning with his long lower jaw stretching a few feet down. (Since after all, Dragonfish are capable of engulfing large tuna and such) "What?"

"**HOW THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT? ARE YOU ACTUALLY A BANK ROBBER OR SOMETHING**?" Bolero exclaimed, shocked that his captain had such a dirty secret.

Alto chuckled in a embarrassed tone, his face red as he began to push the heavy door forward with little resistance. "Can't help it, I used to be trained by Smoker when I was a Navy Recruit to crack Hina's Safe Deposit box so he could use her lottery tickets. Of course, afterwards I ended up starving for a few times in the brig with Hina's cage around my arms, but I never forgot my ability to open complex locks like this."

The two continued to look at him suspiciously, making him sweatdrop a bit awkwardly. Obviously the truth only made him look more of a villian than the people that they were fighting against.

Whirrrr...

The vault door slid all the way open, as Alto stepped through into the pitch black room where Bolero was beaten up beforehand. "Man, it's dark. Can't even see my hand since my glasses are tinted. Oy, Bolero, I need some light!"

With that, the entire room was illuminated with the florescent bulbs startling him for a second, just enough for the thick fire-proof platinum wall to slide down where the vault entrance was to seal off a backwards escape. SLAMMM! Alto winced from the bright light, his eyes slowly adjusting since the light in the clinic was so dim. He could also feel a slight chill in the air, since the thermostat was tampered with at below 30 degrees.

Clapping could be heard from the farthest point of the room, below the 2nd floor balcony. The Doctor looked rather pleased to see that the prodigy captain had seen through his trap, since if Bolero were to try attacking the door, a special sleeping gas would be released from the vents knocking them out quickly. "Congratulations on making it this far."

Alto scratched his head, noting that the others were cut off from him due to that wall that came out of nowhere with a slight head turn before facing his opponent. "And you are?"

"Names don't really matter in a fight. All you must know is that I am a pirate who is mostly responsible for the mistreatment of all the patients here. Including those outside in the caves." The Doctor said, pulling back his sleeves in a relaxed fashion.

"You did that? I am going to beat you to a pulp for hurting one of my men and forcing him to uncover private information against his will!" Alto said, pointing towards him with a vengeful tone and his eyes full of rage.

"Show me then, Master of the Red Strings of Fate! For this will be your last chapter in the book of Man!" The Doctor said proudly, clapping once more and pulled out a large thin white blanket out of nowhere. "Show me the power of the Legendary Alto! Anchors Ahoy!!" As if the thick sheet was a rug, he grasped both corners and snapped it forward at Alto, as at least a dozen heavy ship anchors 3 times his size flew at him out of the blanket!

...

...

...

Tap! Tap! "It's solid alright." WHAM! Gregory got bonked hard by Bolero's wrist when checking the durability with his spear.

"**OF COURSE, IT'S SOLID! IF THERE WERE ONLY A FREAKING DRINKING FOUNTAIN NEARBY, I COULD OVERPOWER THE METAL AND MELT IT DOWN TO NOTHING! THAT CHEAP DOCTOR IS AVOIDING ME FOR SOME REASON!"** Bolero bellowed, as his tendrils began to spread out and grow elongated along his back and limbs. "**DAMN IT! I SHOULD HAVE WENT FIRST**!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, punching the wall only to make a tint dent.

"Well, at least we can hear what's going on the other side since it's not sound-proof." Gregory said, not sure what they could do for the time being.

"**THAT DOESN'T IMPROVE MY MOOD RIGHT NOW**!" Bolero roared, as the tendrils around arm began to twist around his hand in the form of a drill.

Gregory cupped his chin for a second in deep thought, then explained his plan to the lummox who enjoyed destroying towns for fun. "How about this then? Instead of breaking through the ...ing door, we move around it? Surely if the wall next to us was destroyed, we can go into the next room and go forward to help Alto."

"**HMMPH. I SUPPOSE THAT COULD WORK TOO. FOR A HUMAN, YOU HAVE SOME DECENT INSIGHT**." The merman said, sucking in any form of moisture present, including his own sweat so he could whip up a massive fireball of mass demolition.

Of course, even the best of plans can go awry when one is kicked hard in the blowhole with a heavy iron boot with mini-sickles attached, "Fowl Shot!" Bolero fell backwards in a dizzy fashion, his small eyes swirled.

In mid-air, the assasilant spun around to kick Gregory in the face before he could raise his spear to block, landing gracefully on both feet as the fisherman was knocked back on the floor.

"Who the ...t are ya? That stung a bit!" Gregory said, wiping the bloody scar on his cheek and gripping the spear harder as he flipped it around. Then his eyes shook from shock, his jaw wide open.

The person who nearly KO'ed Bolero was a 6'1" adult male with short purple streaked blond hair and narrowed blue eyes of a killer. He had about 3 chins, 2 were made of fat but were covered in beard hair. Even his body build was abnormal, since his legs were more muscular than his chest or legs. Oddly enough, he only wore a one piece white leotard suit with thin silk fabric and a hood over his forehead. A thin gash was made at the top of the hood to expose his hair.

"Bro?" The man's eyes didn't change when Gregory said that, studying the pathetic human and his obsolete weapon. "Bro? Is that really you?"

"I don't know you." Gregory's face drained of color as he ducked down to dodge the roundhouse kick which tore a good section of concrete out of the wall effortlessly. He moved to the side once the man went into a thick storm of snap-kicks, backing up half a foot to avoid getting impaled by the sickles which flipped forward and back on each thrust to maximize damage to vital organs.

"It's me, ...ing Gregory! You're my big bro John, known as the "Crimson Torpedo" because of your high speed in the water when killing fish with your feet. What the ...-heck are you doing trying to kill me?" He said, a bit concerned that one hit might shatter his ribcage if placed right.

"**DREAMWEAVER AND BOOKWORM GOT HIM, THAT'S HOW. THE HAG ERASES THE MEMORY OF HER VICTIMS AND BOOKWORM MAKES NEW ONES, IT'S LIKE A TEMPORARY AMNESIA EFFECT THAT BECOMES PERMANENT IF NOT CONSTANTLY REPAIRED**." Bolero said, getting up with a growl. His blowhole had a minor bruise but nothing too bad. "**THANKFULLY MY MERMAN RAGE MADE ME IMMUNE TO IT SO I COULD OBSERVE OTHERS**."

"I could care less about who I am. I am a guard sent by the Doctor to eliminate you two with the power that I have been given. Prepare yourself for the power of the Roost Roost fruit: Model Chu-Shamo!" With that, a powerful aura pushed the two backwards from him filled with heavy killing intent. His lower and upper body began to puff outwards by a half-foot, as a array of dark, clean feathers began to appear along his chest and arms. His legs turned coarse and thin, with a sickly yellow tint to them, the toes growing several inches long with razor-sharp talons. A thick red dewlap grew from his beard, a comb spread out of the rip in the hood and his mouth and nose morphed into a human-like beak.

Basically, he looked like a black feathered "Chicken Boo" with heavy iron boots and long yet thin clawed hands. (If you don't get the reference, watch Animaniacs) 'John' grinned evilly by curving his beak, then moved at Gregory with a flying jump kick meant to slice off his head in a single move. "Allow me to show you the Waltz of Dominance, intruders! For I am the perfect breed when it comes to close-quarters combat! Fowl Hammer Slam!!"

'**THIS, IS GOTTA HURT**.' Bolero thought, moving in front of Gregory and crossing his arms out so his tendrils could act as a shield for both of them. '**HURRY AND GET US OUT, CAPTAIN**!'

* * *

Light Ball Cannon – A expensive bazooka that fires off a multi-flare rocket made to destroy large opponents, but wastes a lot of ammo and lacks a aiming system.

Dream Dream Lucid-Allows her to come into the real world and forcefully morph it into a nightmarish land of her own choosing.

Dream Dream Extension: Expands the dream world out of the zone she currently is in.

Dream Dream Ending- Simply put, it's like falling out of bed during a dream, awaking up halfway, then colliding on your head and falling into a even deeper sleep. Dreamweaver planned to knock her out with this powerful attack.

David-A deep admirer of Prelude, co-captain of the Gandros Tennis Club and a Marine Intel agent. Uses the Vital Vital to spy on others once his 'friend' KO's him. A rival to Requiem.

Vital Vital-Whenever he is knocked out cold, he acts as a guide for Requiem to adjust her spiritual awareness. It also allows him to go into the body of others to quicken heart rate, slow down metabolism, reopen old wounds and so on. Unfortunately if his body is found and killed, he would also die.

Vital Vital Self-Implode- For use on spiritual entities when Requiem isn't around, uses a lot of his spirit to damage the body from within, and then causes him to rest for a few hours after usage making his body vulnerable to attack.

Sundown Splitter: A Hina Finishing Move that can punch a hole through a person provided they are already dead or have thick armor on their person, basically to destroy to damage the brain.

Chu-Shamo- A powerful Japanese rooster made for fighting, it is said to surpass other roosters in 'waltzing' with talons and beaks with unbelievable fury and high jumping ability.

Fowl Hammer Slam-A spinning corkscrew double kick in mid-air with the talons and sickles out to rapidly slice the arms and body on contact.


	24. Power of Youth! Gandyr's Boxing Style!

Drode: (sighs, walking in) Sorry about the wait, guys. Even with summer vacation, my author is still a slowpoke.

SH: (currently gagged, wearing a Slowpoke costume. He looks like he was thrown into a briar patch.) Slow...

Drode: (whips him a few times) Did I give you permission to speak? Hurry up and make a new chapter! Honestly.

Drode: Oh yeah, and just to let you guys know, the Genova Corps are based off the Gray Suits, a fictional superhero team he made back several years ago and even made a unsuccessful fanfic from it.

SH:(grunts, feeling stupid that he made such a goofy fic)...

(Drode then rides on his back, going off into the sunset)

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or the characters. If I did, Kid and Law would have revealed their DF powers already. And I am almost certain it isn't 'Magnet Magnet' since Kid's power seems more advanced than that.

* * *

Ch 24

_"With the blessing of the Etheral beings, the Navy began to push back Atos's nasty influence over the islands. And soon, even Atos's followers were taken down and turned to stone by the Leviathan's powers... "_

There's a thing called exercise in this world and the next, all sweat and pain. Normally, Marines have to work out regularly to stay fit, even at sea, using training weights/jogging a few laps on the ship/scrubbing floors/ or engaging in club activities. Sorta like High School only they get paid a fat paycheck each week for their services. Even Alto, being the slacker that he was, always took a hour of every two days to lift the heavy statues of stone camels which he added a few extra pounds too and carry them around to tone his pink muscle.

Gandyr, however, was not a trooper for regular fitness. Whether it be a bum knee, a ache in his hump of a back, a bruise on his foot or treating his patients, he had no time to stay in good shape. That was why he was sweating up a storm, tongue wagging out and drooping his eyes in discomfort getting up the 45th step of the extremely long spiral staircase with five impatient young seamen recruits waiting for him to catch his breath.

"God...why do you hate me." He groaned, the after-effects of the fight taking it's toll on his body. The fact that the Doctor never installed rail handles on the staircase really bothered him as well, what if someone fell off? He had made a new heavy boxing glove out of the used bandage roll around Pink Warden, yet his shoulders were aching because of the two cast appendages.

"You could just take the stupid things off, Lieutenant." One of the Marines said, rubbing his gray, bullet-proof helmet, only to get shhhhhhh-ed by his superior.

"Don't be absurd! We just walked through that room with the fuzzy red carpet, remember? If I didn't use these things to contain my static charge, I might as well have one foot in the grave." Gladyr retorted, not in the mood to take sass from a kid.

"I could just carry you up the stairs, though." One of them offered, only to be scoffed at.

"What do you take me for, a wimp? I just need to catch my breath is all." He said, smiling a little as he limped up a step at a time wondering why he couldn't find a walking stick.

The others sighed, knowing that it would take at least an half hour to climb all the way to the rooftop with his foot speed. The plan was simple, go to the roof and attempt to contact their allies once the mouth of the 'cave' opened to broadcast a firing signal to their ship.

"Just a thought, but there seems to be less of you than before." The old doctor grunted, now crawling up the stairs after wobbling and falling forward. He even counted off the number of heads in his head, uncertain why they were missing a few members.

"George sped off to find Prelude and deliver that antidote." Another soldier stated plainly, becoming impatient with the slowness.

"Antidote? Prelude?" Gladyr's eyebrows arched in partial realization, overcome with relief. "Oh, yes! Now I remember what that vial was for. I was wondering why I put it in my pants pocket."

"You complete moron! You forgot!" His men slapped the air comically behind his back as to insult his wisdom.

He rubbed his beard in a somewhat passive manner, stroking it between steps. "Well, I probably won't care much anyway. She'll get the antidote and we'll blow this facility up. How are things with the others?"

A marine in charge of radio communications answered his question earnestly, "Sir! Kappa 4 Squadron reported in a while back about prisoners being released into the lower floors. For some reason, non-Marine soldiers are escorting them out into a firing squad zone and our men are in the midst of delaying them temporarily."

"Hmmph...so even Alto's plan was figured out. No matter, we'll free anyone who wants to fight with us." Gladyr panted, exiting the stairwell onto a set of steel I-beams connecting to the 10th floor of the building.

"Speaking of which, did you notice how those weapons that those two Dino Types were using vanished when those thin white towels fell from the ceiling?" Another marine pointed out in a half-dazed tone, then blew hard into his hand to clear his sinuses. "It's wacked out, man!"

"Electro Knuckle!" The seaman ended up embedded in the wall with a fist-shaped crater in his chest armor, as Gladyr looked on disgusted and irriated. "Let's be serious here, youngsters! I hate hip-hop talk and fancy lingo, so don't share such nonsense with me unless you want a broken jaw! Be glad that armor took the brunt of the attack, kid, or I might have froze your spine and left you paralyzed from the waist down."

"Thank you..." The recruit sputtered, falling off the wall and leaving an imprint of his body upon it as a result. He could still feel the deep bruise of the electrically charged punch dealt to him, one that took the wind out of his lungs. 'This...is the power of one of the Gorosei's subordinates. Even at Rank 7, he's still insanely strong for his age.' He thought, now following the others as they went to a nearby drinking fountain.

"Seriously, in my day, every pirate used to line up for the gallows without a guard to watch them. SIPPPPPPPP!" Bending over, he drank from the fountain parched from a sore throat and partial exhaustion. His men cringed at how annoying his sucking on the dispenser was. "We'll have to watch our backs for any more Wardens and the like. SIPPPPPP!" He took another drink before continuing. "See if you can find any patients on this floor and liberate them before they get sent to the firing squad downstairs. I'll be waiting here."

"Yes, sir!" The others saluted, taking off down the nearest right hallway in order to escape his irritating slurping. Which, btw, lasted fifteen minutes.

Gladyr burped a few times standing up again, satisfied with the delicious water that bubbled in his stomach. Oddly enough, the stuff actually cured his bowel problems in under a minute and made him feel a bit chilly for some reason. Which was why he felt compelled to take a canteen off his belt, uncork the cap and fill it up with the sparkling, ice cold bubble water that relaxed his taste buds. That was when the screeching and screaming bloody murder started to occur, snapping him out of his daze.

"Ehhh?" He said, scratching his head from hearing the cries of his comrades echoing all over the place. Reinserting the canteen in it's proper place and resealing it, he slowly walked in a cautious manner (sidling along the wall) to check up on them. 'What the heck are they doing over there? I don't hear gunfire so their disguises weren't blown.'

What he saw was 300 Elite Genova Corps armed with armor-piercing silencer pistols, the kind that sounded like a paper fan flap. Others had state-of-the-art combat tungsten knifes, which he heard could carve through the thick hide of Sea Kings rather easily. And on the floor were his nakama, battered or heavily wounded from the gunshots to the vital organs and head.

'Crud...I could fix them up, but it could attract those bozos attention." Gladyr bit down on his thumb, not sure if he should attempt a suicidal rescue. He watched a bunch of the heavily armed soldiers lift the disguised marines over their shoulders and carried them off. 'Okay, maybe those guys are taking them in for questioning and imprisonment.'

Clik! The fact that he was taken off guard by one of the lower class guards with a revolver only showed him that he was getting old. The feeling didn't last long since the one-two punch sent the guard sprawling head-first into a wall, attracting the Elite Guards to his position.

'Shoot.' He took off immediately with a limpish sprint, the bullets just missing him by inches. Even though he wasn't in the best of shape, he knew that stealth was out of the question with those people following him.

Fighting hand to hand was also a no-no, they would be expecting that since he carried no guns on his person (since he was a lousy shot in the Ship's personal firing range). The only choice he had was to run until he could run no more. Still, what Gregory said was true as he went through the separate corridors and halls, the Clinic was very similar to a maze, more puzzling than the basement floor itself.

Even the path that he went from the staircase was gone, replaced by a wall and two different hallways. No doors, windows or hidden stairs were seen going past, just a set winding path that he chose to take on his own. No traps were set with the floor or walls though, which he could have used to take out some of the guards giving chase. Sometimes he was on a incline which he struggled to run up, other times he was sliding down a steep incline and went through darkened tunnels. And each time, the Elite guards found him using their superior knowledge of the base walkthrough and hidden passages.

'This is so freaking annoying, they aren't even out of breath.' He huffed and puffed, feeling the strain of exhaustion fleeing from another bullet hailing that made swiss cheese of a nearby wall. 'Their stamina must be off the charts-' "OOF!" His train of thought was cut short, since he had his head facing partly backwards and ended up hitting Bookworm who was roaming the hallway with the latest Novel from Whitebeard.

"Hey, watch it!" The teenager yelled, dropping his book as Gladyr fell backwards on his butt. To him, it felt like he ran into a invisible wall of some sort. Almost immediately, the two were surrounded by the hundreds of Genova Corp soldiers now caught up to their position.

"Surgeon General Bookworm! We have managed to find the Hostile who invaded and took out Blue and Pink Warden. Please step aside so we can shoot him to death." The leader said, only to see his Boss was seething looking down at the book. "Sir? AARGH!" Without warning, Bookworm suddenly vanished and reappeared behind the man, then struck down hard with the staff to the head. The man's skull caved in instantly once the helmet shattered, a instant death leading to his body falling to the floor.

"Does it look like I care, you moronic jock? My novel is dirty because of you leading that filthy old man to crash into me!" He kicked the corpse a few times for good measure to ensure that the guard was dead. Then he pointed to the tallest one of the group with a sly grin. "You, you now are the leader. Have some of your men throw this worthless trash into the Burner downstairs like all the hazardous waste."

'Filthy old man? I may be old but I'm more of a germ freak sometimes.' Gladyr thought, standing back up to catch his breath since the General didn't seem to order a attack just yet. At least until he turned around to face him with a sadistic sneer on his twisted face.

"So you're one of those meddlesome cockroaches that walked into my financed hospital. Pity, I expected someone who was young and full of inner strength." The young man snickered, spinning his extremely long pole staff in one hand and straightening out his densely foggy glasses with his manicured nails.

Gladyr shot him a dirty look yet said nothing, getting out a pair of pliers to pull out the bullet and applied some morphine and small bandages to close up the wound. No sense in getting into a long argument when three hundred people with guns were staring you down with a desire to kill in their eyes. He doubted he could even take one of them down with his special spool rolls since they could simply flex it off.

"Sir! Your orders!" One of the Elite Guardsmen stated with a bit of respect towards his superior, bending down on one leg. They knew that despite the Doctor hiring them, Bookworm was currently second in command and thus was a equal threat to their large numbers.

Bookworm only chuckled at how droll the pathetic monkey was being to impress him, pointing to the north-west branch of the building . "Assist the lower lifeform Genova Corps downstairs to maintain some control over a riot. Apparently his nakama are attempting to steal our guinea pigs without our permission, punish them all in the name of Genova! I will handle this old fool personally so don't waste your bullets."

"Yes, sir! Men, fall out and commence the retake of the prisoners posthaste!" The leader said, running down the opposite hallway to the staircase with the others following in tow.

"You're awfully cocky to take on Gladyr, the master of hand-to-hand combat." Gladyr swaggered, drawing his arms up close and pacing his footsteps up and down every two seconds.

Bookworm only grinned, moving his staff out in front for preparation." Let's just say that I always win in a fair fight. Always." He chuckled, just as Gladyr instantly closed the distance between them and drawing back his right fist. 'Right feint, left close knuckle to chest.' He thought, allowing the fake-out to occur without batting an eye, and then arched his body out of the way of the hidden punch.

'What the?' Gladyr thought, just as the staff spun to drive a heavy slam to the chin, causing the good doctor to fall backwards a few feet before recovering his balance and footing. "Let's try that again." He charged right in, this time rubbing his thick bandaged hands together to produce sparks.

'Right hook, left swipe, straight punch, rocket jab...' Bookworm thought gleefully in his head, watching only the top of Gladyr's partially bald forehead instead of the position of his fists. Using minimal effort, he ducked and swerved out of the fist's range knowing that one wrong move could end up paralyzing his body for a moment.

Still, even with his quick movement, his shirt got burnt a bit as a trail of sparks curved with each missed hit since the boxing gloves weren't totally well made. 'Hmm...' He slapped aside one of the punches with his thick staff, falling backwards halfway to thrust it with a slight 30 degree angle.

Gladyr attempted to dodge, yet it still managed to strike him hard in the shoulder. 'What is with this guy? Is he psychic? No...I barely thought any of my attack moves out in my head. Maybe flailing should work.' He winced, then sent into a heavy barrage of fast punches with no actual place in mind to hit.

'Flailing, eh? Interesting, I'll accept it even if it is predictable for an old man.' Bookworm thought, retracting and repeatedly slamming it forward against each punch, the impact pushed him back each time as he bent his knees to absorb it. 'That's right, keep it coming...'

'I'm hitting his pole thing but he seems to be using it to block the hits, is his body really that weak that he can't face me head-on? I hate fighting at mid-range.' He thought, continuing to box with a determined look on his ancient face.

'A boxer's weakness is...' Twisting a curve movement to the staff along his arm, he struck hard down on the left ankle and at the same time blocked the right hook, shoving it away and hit the ankle again, all in the fraction of a second. 'The legs!'

"Urghhh!" Gladyr grunted, backing up awhile rubbing the sore bruises done to the flesh. The staff was heavy, no doubt about that, but now that he looked closer, it had small holes with ridges around the lower half.

His opponent studied where his eyes wandered, standing arced for any surprise attacks. 'So he's starting to understand a little about the weapon, no matter.'

"Heh...you happy now?" Gladyr said, startling Bookworm, since he thought that the old man was making a strategy. With a brief yawn, the old crone lifted up his leg and without a care in the world, stretched it backwards as far as he could go until it made a nasty crack sound. Undeterred, he moved the leg out in front again and tapped the floor with his swollen, vein-riddled foot. "Seriously, pirates have no respect for boxing nowadays. Always the freaking legs, never playing fair like we Navy men. Bastard, you nearly broke my pride!'

Bookworm felt the air around them tighten like a noose around his neck, as Gladyr's sinister aura intensified around his decrepit body. "You like to cause people pain, eh? I bet you're a Devil Fruit user and that pole is a Hidden Staffblade, correct?"

"Well, actually, it's a Sonic Staffblade, but I suppose it's similar. Of course, my Staffblade has unique abilities but I don't see the point of using them on a weak man such as yourself." Bookwork taunted, side-stepping Gladyr who immediately rushed him grasping a attack chance, then smashed his hump hard with the lower half of the staff.

It was if a bomb went off inside his chest, the powerful vibrations intensely powerful. "GGGGRRRRHHHHHAHH!" Gandyr fell over quickly, vomiting a few pints of blood from his mouth and some from his nose once the aftershock subsided.

The specialized staff spun rapidly in Bookworm's hands, making a hollow yet near silent screeching sound upon blurring from sight. "Do you get it yet, you pathetic monkey? My weapon is a giant bell ready to be rung upon contact with another person, since your physical makeup is made of mostly water, water that conducts the sound through the vital organs and blood streams. Sure, it can't make a person deaf like what usually happens when you're standing inside of one in a church, but it does damage the person from the inside. Your 'precious' comrade that you saved never stood a chance."

Gladyr grunted, rubbing his hands together to increase the charge of static volts between the two. 'He can't be serious, Bolero can withstand cannonballs in the stomach without flinching. That's why he's the Tanker of the group. There's no way he could be beaten like that.'

"But he did, and that's why he hasn't escaped." His opponent said slyly, interrupting his train of thought by analyzing the puzzled expression on his face. Gladyr felt the wind kicked out of him by the sudden blow of the staff colliding with his chest, the sheer speed unnatural by human standards. "You know why I became a Pirate? Because I like to read stories, the very facts that make up this world. Being a merchant would only restrict where I can go, and the Navy has little freedom when traveling from island to island."

"Simply put, each and every person that is in this Clinic has a unique history that I take from them. Their hardships, romances, the brief adventures, I steal it away from their meddlesome minds once Dreamweaver tores open their minds. Being a bookworm, I take their memories and make fake biographies using pennames to make a fortune! I will obtain the power of a Elite Author and be awarded in gold trophies for my efforts. As for you, I'll see how much wisdom you currently have and take it into a brief novel on medicine and such."

"You will do no such thing! My memories are precious to me!" Gladyr yelled, swinging away at nothing but air as Bookworm anticipated his every attack the second he made a specific movement.

"It's useless, the second you fought me, I've already been using the power of the **Read Read** fruit. I'll take your memories once I win as a trophy and there isn't a thing you can do about it." Gladyr screeched out as the heavy bar hit his right arm, rattling his veins and shattered a few bones in the process, making the cruel white-haired Homo Superior smirk in trimuph.

The old doctor cringed, backing up a bit and shook his arm rather violently as he attempted to move around the swarm of thrusts and downward swings. Even when the staff missed, the floor became cratered by a foot which in turn made his footing uneven when pacing himself.

'Read Read fruit...now that I think about it, I did do a brief essay on it in the Academy. But that was such a long time ago. Let's see...I definetly remember it being Paramecia since this guy isn't changing his body or appearance but that's about it.' Crrrrack! Gladyr winced as his arm reset itself back to a normal status, the bones reconnected in a sore and painful manner. 'Oh, that is gonna smart in the morning. This is why I need my freaking painkillers.'

Flexing each finger to make sure the nerves were working, he once again went on the offensive, even though Bookworm seemed to lean back or simply move to the side ever so slightly. 'Grrr...my boxing gloves are four times the size of my feeble hands, yet this bean sprout is mocking me with single dodges. Is this what he meant?'

"Can't hit me. Can't hit me." The brat blew a raspberry to increase his anger and frustration. One of his punches connected with the staff, rebounding it and spun in place like a round shield to deflect the fierce barrage. "**Bookmark Barrier**!"

Gathering up a bit more strength, he launched a comet cross-punch into an opening in the defensive spin. Bookworm felt his arms lurching as Gladyr now held part of the non-hollow staff, preventing him from weilding it with both hands. "Gotcha, you damn punk." Gladyr grinned evilly, pulling the staff closer to his own body as well as the one holding it.

"You sure? **Colophon Driver**!" DING!! Simply put, Size 12 sneaker met the tiny thing between Gladyr's shaky legs, making the old man cry bloody murder in total agony. "Try to recover from that!" Bookworm laughed, amused as his opponent crumpled to the floor in the fatal position.

'God, it smarts! You'd think I would be wearing a cup by now in my line of work.' Gladyr cried a bit in his thoughts, his body rolling back and forth on the floor to wear off the intense pain.

Now unhindered by the bulkish gloves, the semi-hollow staff rang out it's melodous dry tone as Bookworm lifted it behind his back. "Now for the coup de grace!" He brought it down hard, making Gandyr's eyes widen and his legs retract so the soles of his feet connected to the floor. "Preface Pounder!"

It was over in an instant, the floor simply exploded into chunks of rubble as Gladyr barely managed to jump out of the way only to hang in mid-air for a split second before falling to the next floor of the complex. "What the heck!" He screamed, trying to 'swim' in the air using the butterfly stroke and managed to cling on to a large chunk of debris.

"Uh uh uh...no use running away. I can read ya like a book." Bookwork teased, suddenly coming from behind using the pieces of tile as springboards to manuever.

'How is he doing that?' Gladyr cringed, noting that the staff was about to cut horizonally, bending his legs again to flip over Bookworm. The chunk of floor was blown apart once the staff hit, completely vaporized into dust on contact.

"That was set at 50 percent of my physical power, want to see it at maximum?" Gladyr heard him say coldly as he landed on the next floor, wincing from the pain upon landing. Bookwork landed in a more ninjaish manner with hands and legs squatted, the staff absorbing the momentum. "Shall I pump up the volume? **Foreword Cannon**!" FWOOOM! Laughing manically, he slapped the non-hollow end with his free hand aiming the hollow part towards Gladyr.

"Oh, crap..." Was all he could say as a invisible shockwave of concentrated sound tore up the tiles and slammed right into him, making him spit up blood once he felt his lungs nearly collapse from the blow. He fell backward, somersaulting a few times before crashing headfirst into a wall. He could feel a small cut on his near-bald head bleed out a bit, which he shakily applied a band-aid to cut off the flow.

"We bookworms use words to talk, and words are produced of sound, got it? The higher we yell, the more strength we have on a stupid, inferior person who can't raise his voice to match us. But because of it, the Library won't let me in. I will make my own library with the stolen knowledge that I take from the clients and no one will stop me!" The moron taunted, sprinting towards Gladyr with the long staff raised.

The over-sized boxing glove suddenly nailed him hard in the chest, with sparks numbing part of his body. 'Impossible...no one can stand after I hit them with that much power. His eardrums should be rattled from that hit.' He thought, attempting to shake it off and watching the doctor heave in and out slowly with a constipated look on his face.

'Man...I never get the easy ones. Good thing that I have such bad hearing.' Gandyr thought, getting back into his strut mode of footwork. The damage done to his lungs was minimal but required treatment afterwards, so there was a chance that he could suffer for a while.

To Bookworm, the speed that the Doctor had due him being closer to the ground made him a fast moving target that switched his way of moving every 5 seconds to confuse him. "Dammit, stop moving around! **Foreword Power Cannon**!" FWOOOOOM! FWOOOOM! FWOOOOM! Hitting it three times in a row awhile swerving it left to right, a trio of thick shockwaves shot out to weaken the floor.

Even then, Gladyr had already moved in from behind to sucker punch his backside which was quickly countered by a side-overhead block. Turning around, the two combatants seemed rather anxious to defeat the other with steely eyes.

'Close range it is then!' Was the single thought between the two as they engaged in a series of fast punches and swift slashes, Bookworm dodging and Gandyr grabbing to push aside.

The large chunks of rubble were blown apart each time one of them missed their target, awhile the metal inside of them were electrified and melted down a few inches. A horizontal sweep was countered by a cross punch, followed by a barrage of jabs which were quickly avoided.

'One hit is all I need to take this guy out...' The two thought as one, closing the distance between them by a foot, literally. By that, it means both were trying to step on each other's shoes but moved out of the way and attempted to moved their foot over the other for dominance. Even if stepping on toes wasn't the way of boxing, it was the way of the In-Fighter type.

It wasn't until the 10th attempt to step on his foot that Gladyr slid it backwards suddenly, gripped the floor base, and lunged with a fierce blizzard of looping punches. "**Electro-Coiled Rush**!!"

This move made Bookworm grin, 'Haymakers, eh?' He could already react to them, slapping each aside with minimal effort to test the durability of the punch. What he didn't count on was the full punch from his left hand, one fully charged hidden amongst the storm of haymakers.

To put it in layman's terms, the technique was one of the most dangerous forms of Boxing known to mankind: The Bolo Punch. Even though the Haymaker, a wild spinning-type punch with a lot of power, could work to break the staff, it lacked accuracy and predictable if the opponent wasn't already dazed. A desperation move if you will. The swarm of haymakers was a feint, a fake out that never intended to hit unless Bookworm would drop his guard at the last second. Once Bookworm had all his attention on that attack, the Bolo Punch was at full strength when he nailed him hard in the face.

To narrow down the damage, his left cheek was bruised, his right and left eyes had a shiner, 5 teeth were permanently cut or damaged beyond repair and his nose was broken. Semi-consciously, he nearly lost his grip on the pole then held fast to prevent him from falling backwards.

"Phew!" He spat out a half-tooth, disgusted that he had a bloody lip and that part of his face was numb. "How? How did ya do it?" He said in a lighter tone of voice, his accent more fluent and rich.

"I know now the Read Read fruits power, you can see the list of moves that I have done in the past and how my nemesis's avoided them. But if I made up a new move on the spot, you can't detect it and avoid it at the same time. It also allows you to slowly remove the memories of those you defeat. So it wasn't you reading my mind, but just looking at the words of my past victories etched on me which allowed you to adapt faster than I could." Gladyr huffed, placing one glove close to the face, the other down to his right hip in a low guard position. "As long as I can make new combinations, you can't fade my attacks forever."

"So what? **Bookmark Cleave**!" A semi-invisible blade of sound erupted from the hollow end once his hand struck it during a vertical swing. Gladyr managed to move out of the way, but it sliced a deep cut into the wall behind him and kept going. "I will not let you succeed a second time!"

"Wanta bet with your life on the line?" Gladyr said, quickly moving in in a closed boxing position with arms in front and legs ready to scramble about. 2, 3 uppercuts were followed by a blazing fast punch which nicked the creep on the shoulder which was enough to slowly numb it a bit to slow down his movement.

The hits kept on coming though, slamming into him with gut-wrenching force since Gladyr made them more random, moving through the 'holes' in his staff's protection. To make him less easy to predict, he used the four deadly styles of the Boxer: Outfighter to have distance and long jabs, Puncher for more explosive uppercuts and haymakers, Slugger for slow mobility but accurate dynamite punches, and Infighter to make deadly combos. That is why he was considered the 'Conductor' for he could always switch to a more suitable pattern if his enemy adapts to it.

'Why...why can't I figure him out now? This is going behind what I read from his previous actions.' Bookworm thought, attempting to hit him in the legs to stop his fast footwork, only for Gladyr to jump on it and run straight at him with a Cross Punch.

Moving quickly, he thrusted the pole up to push Gladyr into the air. A vicious grin crossed his face as he aimed the hollow end at the rapidly descending doctor. "Say your prayers!" FWOOOOOMM!

"I think I did before I went into this crazy place, thank you very much. **Doctorate Grappler**!" Before the wide area sound burst could take him out, he loosened the left fist and threw it hard into the farthest wall, with a stream of strip casting behind it. "**Doctorate Bounce**!" He cringed taking some of the hit, hanging on at the end of the cast streamer which suddenly yanked him hard forward just as 40 of the floor was decimated by the blast.

Dropping butt first and skidding to a stop in front of the wall, he yelped out in pain holding his scorched rear end. He then scooted into a empty large room with no other doors or windows "God, that smarts! And...it seems I burnt a hole in it, this will be a bit awkward." Turning to face Bookworm, he asked while retrieving the cast glove (and rerolling back the strips), "Say, if I defeat you, can I have those snazzy pants?"

"No, you can't have my pants! They're mine! Heck, they couldn't fit an old lardbutt like yourself in a million years even as a skeleton!" The irrigated professional killer shouted back across the room. "Besides, I'm all the way over here and there's a large gap in the floor between us, you'll never reach me!"

Gladyr gawked at the kid's naiveness as he pulled out the special cast strips that he was saving for Bolero. By now, they were like wet rubber bands that were rather sticky, making him grimace a bit. "Kid, if you were really trying to read my moves, you would understand that we humans never do the same thing twice. You may have a Devil Fruit, but I use the gift to heal people who need it."

With a brief grunt, he unraveled out 2 of the special strips and tossed each end to the upper right, upper left, lower right and lower left corners in which they caught hold and clinged tightly on the floor and ceiling. BOIINNG! The four formed into a white X, which he pulled back on inch by inch ever so slowly due to his sore arm muscles.

"And you suppose I'm gotta get hit by that primitive slingshot? You planning on launching a boulder at me? My sonic switchblade will tear it apart before it even reaches me." Bookworm moved the staff into a frontal position, ready to cut down anything in his way. "Heck, there's no doors where you are. Still, since you fought so well, I will give you a fast death at 100."

"I won't have it any other way, ya nut!" Gladyr mumbled under his breath, placing the empty cast glove in the center of the X which stuck on tightly. He watched the staff rise over Bookworm's head, swirling and spinning, faster and faster until he could actually hear the hollow shrill ringing of the switchblade cutting the very atmosphere. The static volts coursed through his nervous system, but he stood firm regardless of the paralyzing effects.

SLAMMM! Upon reaching maximum speed and velocity of the spin, he brought down the non-hollow end on the floor which caused a heavy uproar of concentrated sound throughout the room. "Here it is, my true power!** Library Dedication Void**! For the very sounds you hear will ultimately turn against you, unlike I who trains in this manner everyday!"

It was true, since the void was like a heavy pressure placed upon Gladyr's weak and feeble body. He could barely move backwards anymore, his head forced down and his veins throbbing painfully. Even his breathing had grown erratic, but his grip didn't release at all. Ever so slightly, he attempted to make eye contact as his morale began to rise bit by bit.

"My Justice is Caring, for I am only a doctor who looks after those who are hurt or injured, regardless if I hurt them or someone else does. You can chop off an arm, gorge out an eye, break god knows how many ribs, and I will only pity you as a weakling who couldn't finish the job right. Regardless, our time together is at an impasse, and I will defeat you with everything I have!" Gladyr whispered, feeling light-headed as even his eardums were unblocked, his body shaking wildly from the sound waves ravaging his blood vessels and muscles to tear ever so slowly. However, his voice was drowned out by the sound vibrations.

"Just try it! My attack works at the molecular level, and soon you'll fall to pieces once your bones crumble. Heck, it even acts as the ultimate barrier to ward off projectile attacks. That small fist will be warded off before it even reaches me!" Bookworm countered, 'reading' his rival's lips only for his own words to be negated.

"Here I go then, punk! Try on my** 9th Round TKO**!" Without hesitation, he released his hold on the extremely heavy fist catapulting it straight on towards Bookworm. The 'rubber strips' tore off the walls once a opposite force was applied, causing the glove to spin wildly in place despite the barriers of thick sound trying hard to push it away. "When it comes to a fistfight between men, my fist will sound the final bell to ring!"

"No, no, stay away from me! This is impossible!" Bookworm shouted, squirming as he attempted to lift up the heavy staff only to see that the cast fist broke it in half since it was denser than iron at the speed it was going, then continued on to strike him hard in the face. KAPOWWW!

"1..." His head reeled backwards by the tremendous force behind it, teeth and blood falling out of his mouth. "2..." His feet were lifted off the floor and his body was pulled back by the inertia and the speed of the blow. "3..." Finally, he crashed backwards flat-on against the door, leaving a deep imprint before falling over on his swollen, heavily bruised face. "TKO!" Gladyr cheered, crossing his arms in victory and caught his cast glove once it rebounded off the face and flew back in an arc towards his open hand.

His victory pose was cut short to the moaning coming from the bastard's mouth, as Bookworm was fading in and out of focus. Low on energy and no weapon to use, it seemed only fair to listen to his final words before Gladyr would wrap him up and put the cuffs on his flaky wrists.

"All I ever wanted...was to read in peace. Is that so bad surrounded by humans who always bother me creaking their chairs, gossiping rudely or dropping books for no reason? If only those kinds of people were gone, I could...rest..." He fell silent just then, closing his eyes and became unconscious.

Gladyr leaned over, bending his knees and placed his palms around his face in a puzzled manner towards his downed opponent. "Idiot boy. Just because I arrest you doesn't mean you can't get the simple things in Impel Down. You'll get your own soundproof room and you can always ask for more books from the guards but in return receive less meals if you don't return them on time. Compared to the rest of this crazy world, it will be heaven on earth for someone like you."

Standing up again, he scratched his near bald skull at the damage he did and the fact that he just caved in the only door out. "Hmmm...this could get tricky. Let's see..." Going back to his briefcase, he pulled out a thick cast spool and applied saliva at the end to harden it quickly once applied to the floor. Slowly, he walked to the edge of the crevice testing the tiles every 2 feet, and tied the end part around his waist. With a brief gulp on his small adam's apple, he closed his eyes and jumped off the edge without hesitation or yelling to give away his position.

'Please let there be no spikes, please let there be no quicksand...' He prayed silently during the drop, his eyes tearing up from the fear. CLOMP! CLOMP! His feet touched the ground, making his legs and hips wobble from contact. 'Am I alive? I'll just take a peek.' He thought, slitting open an eye and nearly had a heart attack. And farted by accident.

Basically, he was in the midst of a Minor Genova Soldier gathering in a dimly lit place with torches mounted on the walls. And 1/4 of them were at the moment coughing and hacking breathing in his noxious gas, awhile the others trained their high-powered rifles on him.

'Swell...I get out of one situation and end up fighting about 170 men. How annoying.' He pulled hard on the spool with a sharp yank before any of them could pull the trigger. A brief creaking could be heard as multiple cracks appeared on the bottom of the ceiling like a heavy skate on thin ice, making him grin ever so calmly. "And now it's 55 men."

* * *

Air...she stirred briefly, her eyelids fluttering open yet felt as heavy as lid. She could sense a breath blowing on her scalp, a cold wind that went inside her sensitive ears. She would move her hands, but that was about it as a tight constriction around her body made her cry out in pain.

"Now now, no need to struggle so much, my dear hostess..." A warm yet creepy male voice said, making Crescendo shiver a bit. She could now see by tilting her head, the thick 2 foot wide green snake tail that surrounded her from neck to feet.

"I..I don't know how you are, but let me go. I know where my captain's secret stash of tuna is located." She cried out, unable to transform for some reason.

"Now now, I didn't bring you here for that. Each time you fall into that trance, you fall asleep and turn up here, and then you forget what conspired once you wake up. This is what, the 45th time this year we had this conversation?" A large venomous snake rose up out of the pile, one with a human face with violet eyes. That face went back inside the mouth as the head 'morphed' into a massive black mass of fur with orange striped legs (with claw-tipped paws). The head popped out the other end this time, but seemed more monkeyish with long black hair and big ears, his mouth became a sharp snout with bone-crunching fangs. "Now now, you should just relax since this is a completely different situation than those other times. I wanted you to be awake as a witness."

"A witness? Where am I to witness? It's so dark."

"Now now, we're in your head of course. Your giant, abnormally shaped head since your wavelengths are out of sync due to my interference." He said, his eyes glinting a blood red color.

"Interference?"

"Now, now. All in good time. Have you already sensed it by now? You should, it's been emitting ever since we arrived at the island."

Spotted red lines appeared, swirling and weaving in the hollow darkness of her sub-consciousness. Sickening, spine-tingling laughter could be heard echoing through every crevice and alley, he kind that could drive a man insane listening to it for hours on end without rest or sleep. The lines merged together, twisting and connecting until the form of a human mouth appeared and laughed horribly at the two. More and more of them appeared; mocking Crescendo and the animal-like human chimera making her feel like her ears were bleeding.

"Something is wrong...it's so loud." She whimpered, as the tail retracted around her allowing her to crawl up into a ball, her eyes watering from the headache.

"Now, now, this is merely reality, my dear. We all have to face it one time or another. You aren't completely under it's spell for some reason but it will continuously bother you since you rely more in instinct than reason." The man said, standing up on his 'tiger legs' and walked around a bit, with the large snake acting as a third leg to support his weight. "As the **Nue** personality acting as your human instinct, I felt it was only necessary to tell you since you're my 'hostage'."

"So-AAAARGH!" She felt a heavy blow belt her in the gut, one so bad she ended up flying far into the darkness. Yet, there was no actual bruise or bleeding from the hit.

"Now, now, hurts, doesn't it? Unlike the realm of dreams, the mind is a lot more complex." The Nue figment said, appearing to catch her with his buff, muscular and furry arms. Snapping his fingers, two Plexiglas windows flittered open to show a frantic chase down one of the clinic's hallways using her beastly night vision. "As long as you have no control over the beast that you become, your mental strength takes damage from each hit your foe gives you in the physical world. That is the backlash of the Monster Technique."

Through her eyes, she could see Jester had already escaped her jaws of destruction and was popping all over the place using his Devil Fruit power and Geppou. At the same time, Prelude was desperately trying to hit the bastard with a ricocheting sawblade which returned to her hand and threw it again with faster speed.

"Now, now, we can't have none of that. Wild Boulder!" With that said, the room went topsy turvy once her physical body curled up with arms inside and legs folded inward, rolling down like a bowling ball of destruction.

'I wonder if it's possible to throw up inside your own mind.' She wondered, retching awhile spinning in place with a green face. Crescendo watched as Prelude took off at a faster pace than before, leaving a dust trail in her wake. "Wow, she's fast."

"Now, now, no need to admire. She's just another victim that we must kill to satisfy the eternal hunger of the Ratel." The chimera laughed, drooling crimson saliva on the floor just looking at the peach-like butt on Prelude wiggling like it wanted to be plucked and chomped down on.

"Stop it." That was firm but direct, but the Nue ignored her plea since he had no emotions for the safety of others.

"Nope, nope. Too hungry, if you hadn't gone berserk over some fruit-controlled animal, you wouldn't need to kill anyone. That animal, I might add, is following us at a slow speed due to the wounds."

"Hoppi!" She said, half surprised to hear her pet was alive. "Turn around, I need to pick him up." She ordered, but it fell on deaf ears.

"**Wild Hammer**!" Suddenly, her arm swung down, creating a forward shockwave by slapping the floor with the gargantuan clawed paw. To Prelude, it felt like a 6.9 earthquake which nearly knocked her over had she not put her hands in front, performed a twin handstand, and back-flipped down the rest of the hallway.

"**Wild Shots**!" Puckering her mouth, she spat out a spray of thick, sticky saliva blasts in a manner similar to Chuu at Jester.

"Track Track U-Turn!" He called out, arcing one leg out during a Geppou to create a curved dotted line road and performed a soru to distance himself. The blasts went along the path, then reversed their flow back at Crescendo who screeched bloody murder as the globs exploded on her body. To a Monster covered in fur, the saliva was like a 30 inch plasma tv-sized gumball chewed up and blown into a bubble which would then pop and cover the body in a rather uncomfortable way.

"Ewwww..." She moaned, grossed out by the attack that the Nue made her do, as the Nue sat back on the ground, watching her suffer with a villainous smile on his face.

'Now, now, that's the way the world works, my dear. You wanted power from the fruit, and I gave it to you. The more damage you take, the more of an animal you become to others, and soon I will take over as the permanent resident of your subconcious pathetic mind.' He thought, seeing the deep cuts of blood appearing on her clothing after a series of boomerang-like Rankyakus sliced her torso and legs. Following the air path that Jester made, they turned around to repeatedly cut and run, a technique known as the **Ribbon Rankyaku**.

* * *

Outside the cave, which has been a while now, the village was in a frenzy due to the unexpected appearance of a horde of BioxSponges pouring out of the opening. Because of the death of many of their brethren, the only solution was to kill over 5,000 fleshy humans to make up for the damaging invasion. Villagers were taken by surprise as they used the coral makeup of the island floor to burrow down, tunnel a bit and then shoot up from underneath a person's feet to devour them whole.

Others simply caused senseless property damage with their massive bulk and acid-filled jaws, the brittle huts no match for their superior numbers and bulk. Piles of fish ready for shipping were scooped up and devoured, corn crops were flattened and the old ground wells were drained of freshwater once the sponges sucked them dry.

Not that there wasn't any resistance on the villager's part, since like Gregory, they knew the main weakness of the destructive beasts. Torches were gathered together and spread out to form a defensive fence around the central part of the village, as well as burning logs and piles of branches to act as wards against invasion. Problem was, due to the coral, not a lot of trees were available as natural resources and oil supplies were limited.

The marines set on Stand-by were setting up steel barricades to hold against the incoming threat, picking off the Starplanters attempting to cling onto human hosts for harvesting. 10 assembly teams were putting together mortar guns, even though they weren't as impressive as the ones at Marine HQ, and normal mortars were shot out from regular tubes to hit the BioxSponges from above.

"Incredible..." The Village Elder whispered, dumbfounded by the speed and strategic teamwork they all shared without exchanging words. He chose to stick behind a defensive line of 200 wharf workers armed with flaming harpoon guns and oil sprayers usually meant to fill up the tanks of fishing boats.

"More ammo belts, now!" A Navy Sergeant barked out orders, as a chain gun filled with paintballs ran low over at the right end of the barricade. By their reasoning, normal rifles would be useless on the foamy flesh, but paint might be able to blind the multiple eyes that those lamprey-like had. Which was why the village had to abandon their supply of lead-oil paint and glass objects (melted and reformed into .71 capsules) so the Marines could use them for war.

One other thing, which was the reason why the Marines had trouble with such a large number of BioxSponges, was the 40 foot tall white tentacle creature with a disk-like head. Each of the five tentacles were covered in razor-sharp spikes, with black stripes and a thick mesoderm endoskeleton around it to protect it from the mortars and flame weaponry. The heavily dense center of the 'head' had a blue eye on the bottom, looking down at the troops as it swung the train car-sized legs to either flatten or smash aside it's victims. Still, it could only stay within a 10 mile radius of the cave for some reason, so it dropped Starplanters clinging to the legs to mobilize it's troops.

'Long ago, those five came to this island with that THING in tow. Known only as a Queen Echinoquill, it decimated our sister village where that cave now exists and grew because of it. Able to feed on the nutrients of human corpses, it is the hive mind of every BioxSponge that brings it fresh meals. But because I failed to mention that to the captain, the Queen is going to consume the remainder of this island. I suppose this is fate, since we humans recklessly destroy the coral beneath the water which gives birth to so many special species.' The Elder thought sadly, sitting back on a comfortable padded chair to observe the carnage unfold.

Amongst the chaos that was brewing, a small sailboat with a large object covered in green tarp caught the southwest wind. With a sharp tug, it breezed past the Leviathan catching a few witnesses that saw it.

"Sir! That one boat is escaping the Quarantine Zone! Should we open fire to sink it!" One of the Marine Majors asked the current Corporal in charge, a husky man with a super long blond ponytail and scarred hands by the name of Davis.

That Major fell over the side of the ship into the oceanwater because of the swift slap to the back, as the gruff man laughed full-heartedly at the stupid idea. "Gha gha gha gha gha gha! Don't be foolish to the temptation of a easy prey that doesn't exist! Even I can plainly see that ship has no one onboard, don't waste the gunpowder. Focus the cannons at that giant starfish-thingy that seems to regenerate it's limbs."

"Aye, aye!" The other crewmembers saluted, going down below by 'fire pole' to put in the round and grape shot and cleaning out the cannons for repetitive firing.

As the small ship sailed on, the villainous Director laid under his camouflage blanket meant to trick the human eye. The massive bulge was the container which began to rattle a bit, now that the occupant was starting to wake up a little. "Heh, idiots. Once he awakes, the first thing I'll have him do is go back to the island and blow them all up. But first..." Getting out a sour-faced Den-Den Mushi, he dialed in a special number and listened in on the receiver.

* * *

Swaying palm trees, tall green grass, the smell of a freshly killed boar over a fire, everything on the Summer Island of Cranba seemed almost too perfect. Being a vacation island in the shape of a grape, many tourists came by to bask in the sun's ray for a smooth tan, watch the fire dancers and mingle with the foxy beach babes.

Today, however, there was only one customer. The pleasant, cheerful women who brought fruit smoothies and back massages avoided the person completely, fearful that they might get killed like the other customers that arrived by a private yacht the other day. For even the white powdery sand was covered in red blood, since that customer wanted to 'put on a show' to relieve his boredom.

"What a waste...no one can get close to me so I can enjoy my time here." The man said, cleaning his sunglasses and then put them back on. His pink feathered coat, orange striped shirt and black boots laid next to his E-Z chair, meaning he was shirtless. If there were any women around, they would be swooning over his glorious body and six-pack abs. "But, what I can I do when I'm perfect in every way?"

"Phone Call! Phone Call! RRRRRRRING!" A purple shelled Den Den Mushi called out, in which he picked up the reciever with a grim expression.

"This better be important or heads will roll." He sneered, utter hatred sensed in his voice tone.

"O-Of course it is, Mr. Doflamingo, sir. That 'thing' you wanted me to revive? It's beginning to awaken." The Director said on the other end, obviously trembling with fear listening to Doflamingo's voice.

"Fufufufufufufufufu, is that right?" The man said, now grinning from ear-to-ear. "Consider yourself up for a promotion in the 'Age of Smiles', my boy. Make sure that the Navy does not connect it to me,"

"It shall be done, Mr. Doflamingo." The Director said, then cut the line short by hanging up.

"Fufufufufufu...with THAT on my side, the Three Great Powers will be thrown out of balance and the world will become the perfect stage for my masterpiece of perfection. And not even the World Government can stop me once I conquer it all, fufufufufufufufufu..." **Donquixote Doflamingo**, the 2nd strongest Shichibukai laughed out loud, making dogs bark, babies scream and the waitresses pray to whatever god they believed in for divine protection.

* * *

Wild Boulder-By gathering her mass together and folding both legs and arms in, she can be a gigantic furry bowling ball of doom, crushing anything and anyone in her path. However, she is vulnerable on the sides as a result which could change the course of where she rolls.

Colophon Driver- A technique used for short-range stunning, since the sneakers are built to smash through a brick wall without harming the foot.

Preface Pounder-A short range attack with the Staffblade, slams the opponent hard and breaks bones in the process.

Bookmark Cleave- Similar to a Rankyaku, it slices anything in it's way and heavily damages the internal organs in a human body.

Foreword Power Cannon- A triple bombardment to cover a wide area, difficult to dodge.

Foreword Cannon- A enormous sound missile meant to damage a person from the inside.

Doctorate Bounce- Once the cast strip slackens, it reels in to pull Gladyr away quickly.

Doctorate Grappler- A cast strip used as a Grappling Hook, sometimes used to pull foes over to him so he could punch them hard in the face.

9th Round TKO- Gladyr's special boxing technique, can pierce through barriers and deal high damage provided he paralyzed his opponent first. However, it requires him to give up a Cast Glove for a minute or two.

Wild Hammer- A attack that can make the floor quake, disorienting others so she can rush in with jaws open wide.

Wild Shots- A barrage of sticky saliva meant to stun or entrap normal humans.

Donquixote Doflamingo- 340,000,000 berri worth, a strong fighter who controls humans like puppets. One of the supporters of the UPSA project.

Shichibukai - A pirate granted amnesty by the Government in return for taking down other crews in the Grand Line.

* * *

Omake:

(Onboard the Gandros Leviathan, Prelude appears to be sitting in the corner with a Dunce Cap)

Prelude: (turns around facing the camera with a sour look) What?

Bolero: (the one holding the video camera)** HEH, JUST FILMING THE PLACE. YOU LOOK FUNNY WITH THAT DUMB HAT ON.** (gets nailed a dozen times with flares to the face) **OW...**

Prelude: (gets up, shoves the dunce cap in his snout-like mouth) Stupid dragonfish hybrid. If you plan to film something, do it at the clubs. (Drags him by his spiky tail out of the room into a long hallway) The Leviathan is also a school for new recruits, remember?

Bolero: (snickers) **YEA, THE CHEMISTRY CLASSES WERE A BLAST!**

Prelude: (sighs) I know, I was here. (enters a room filled with frantic Navy Seamen trying to go through a room of flying paper uplifted by air vents) This, is the Mock Trial room, where our men run simulations to run before Judge Baskerville at Enies Lobby. Only 12 actually become full-time Navy Lawyers to represent court martials and pirate hearings.

Bolero: (tilts head in confusion) **SOUNDS BORING AS HELL, WHAT'S WITH THE FANS?**

Prelude: (huffs) A lummox like you can never understand the randomness of a trial battle, whatever case is on those papers is randomly selected once caught.

Bolero: (growls, sucking in water through his blowhole) **NOW YOU GOT ME MAD, HUMAN! GIANT B-O-O-M BUBBLE!**

(The camera pans away as a massive explosion rocks the side of the ship, sending Prelude flying through the air covered in soot)

Prelude: (coughs up smoke) And that's our show for today, come back again! Ciao! (vanishes into a speck of light in the sky)


	25. The Doctor Is In Requiem's Special Tech!

Drode:(Is currently lowering SH in a birdcage into a pit of lava) You're behind schedule again.

SH: (snorts) Not my fault, summer vacation meant more time for my siblings remember?

Drode: Excuses, excuses! Anything to say before you die a fiery demise like the authors I worked with beforehand?

SH:(sighs, looking downcast) I hoped it wouldn't come to this, but the arc will be concluded in two more chapters.

Shadowy Figure:(cuts the chain and frees SH from the cage, hovering with his obsidan wings to carry him to safety) Yep, and soon the fun will begin. (Blasts Drode into orbit)

SH: (grins, going offstage) See ya later, hopefully within a few weeks if I'm lucky.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but I'm thrilled that Oda has brought in a dinosaur and so many new, unique pirates. The storyline is going to be confusing for a while since none of the DFs have been revealed yet.

* * *

Ch 25

"And lo and behold, once the influence was forced back into a single point in the Red Line, Atos cried out for the Ark to rise. And that, was when everything the Navy planned out went to shtland once it unloaded it's vast arsenal on the fleets."

Valor. The very spirit that only the most elite pirates could control on a whim. Gus Pantero was one of those pirates, but he's not important enough to discuss in detail. By sending a wavelength of a person's willpower through the eyes, it could render an entire army helpless and unable to move for several minutes. Some say it could put a human to sleep, others claim to be choking since the valor forced the lungs to freeze up.

Being without a soul or personality, the power to conjure up valor at given times should the need arose was the gift of one person. Requiem, Rank 3 of the Dark Union Quintet. It had a drawback though, it could only be used once a day since it wears out the eyes.

Which was why the hundreds of robotic spheres were laying on the floor, twitching and buzzing since Timekeeper was temporarily out of commission from the intense burst that shot out of her sockets.

"...warned you..." She muttered, dusting herself off. She preferred to use her powers on the captain, since he had such lame mental defenses and never seemed to scold her afterwards.

Still, this person that dared to barge in during her ceremony. He obviously wasn't normal since he was shaking it off bit by bit. Not hesitating in the least, she shot a iron arrow straight into the skull before he could fully recover, driving it all the way through. He didn't even flinch or bend his neck on impact, his eyes filled with disappointment.

"Iiiiiiis thaaaaat aaaaall?" He said plainly, as if it didn't directly sever a ton of brain tissue and nerves and possibly cause severe bleeding internally. Which apparently didn't happen since he yanked out the arrow with one hand, showing a black mass of wiring where his brain would be. "Braaaaiiiiins aaaareeee foooor theeee weeeeaaak. Sooooo Iiiiii reeeeplaaaaceeed iiiiit."

He was answered with 4 more arrows to the chest and neck, which he slapped aside rather quickly with a analysis of speed and motion. "Theeee aaaattaaacks aaareee iiiinteeeereeesting, buuuut theee dooooctooor waaas cleeeaar ooon yooouuur preeeediiiictaaabliiiityyy."

He was met with silence, as she already took off with a trail of departed souls behind her. He gave a brief sigh, unglasping his hands to reveal two baseball-sized silver spheres. "Stoooreee Stoooreee Siiilveeerblaaadeees." He muttered, allowing the two to hover upwards and rocket down the hallway. Attracted by her magnetic aura, the two spheres gave chase as hidden circle panels opened up around the sides.

Requiem was a bit more athletic than Gladyr, but that was because she needed muscle to carry around 20 pounds of iron fillings. Her brain, devoid of impure thoughts, recalled the directions of how Gregory escaped the building and used that information to move about the halls.

Flit! Flit! Flit! Razor-tipped plastic chakrams by the dozens embedded themselves in the floor behind her. Timekeeper was taking no chances with her leaving the premise, so the best way to him was to chop up her legs until she could no longer resist.

With that in mind as she ran, she attempted to 'tug' the small metal weapons with no results since 99 of it was a Plexiglas plastic with metal edges around it. If she was in her right mind, she would have screamed profanities about how stupid it was not to arm herself with more iron powder.

Turning the next corner, she came face-to-face with a firing squad of normal Genova Corp soldiers. Without stopping, she ran straight into the hailstorm of bullets (receiving two in the arm and one on her left thigh). With her legs bent down, she leapt and flipped over their heads with one hand out. "...Fixation..." She murmured, landing feet-first and continued her sprint.

"Fire, fire!" The squad leader yelled out, forcing his men to turn around and take aim. Problem was, all the gunpowder and bullets were 'stuck tight' in the barrels, resulting in a heavy explosion that nearly knocked the spheres off course.

"Whyyyy aaaareee yyyyooouu ruuuunniing?" Timekeeper said, coming suddenly from behind, knocking aside the fallen soldiers like they were dirt beneath his shoes. The two spheres were on his shoulders, ready to attack if commanded.

"...Distance..." She replied, as a large arrowhead formed in-between her palms and started to rotate rapidly. "...Cluster Barrage..." Shifting around to run backwards on her pumps, she unleashed a thick spread of iron arrows upon her opponent.

They were instantly dismantled by the dozens of silver balls that appeared out of Timekeeper's stomach, which she withdrew them into a stream to recapture the fillings in her hand. "...Odd..." She said plainly, not fully understanding how this man was producing all those items from.

"Stoooreee Stoooreee fruuuiiit...theee ultiiimaaatee toooool for cooolleeectiing aaand reeemaaakiiing iiiteeems oof myyy ooown deeesiiign. Siiimplyyy puuut, theee spheeereees areee liiimiiitleess." He gave his answer after sensing the confusion in her tone.

Both of them stopped running, knowing that it was futile to gain any form of advantage in a long-range battle. Requiem selected two marble-sized amounts of fillings, shifting one of them into a long bow. The second plowed into the metal wall, cutting and chopping pieces of it up into tiny, tiny chunks of iron. "...Recycle Arrows..." She said calmly, drawing back on the string and closing one eye to maximize her sight.

"Stoooree Stoooree Tiiin Baaall." A array of tin-colored spheres floated out of his palms, each had small spikes with a small electric generator inside. "Iiiigniiitooon!" The group of spheres sparked a few times, interlocking thick streams of electricity between them using the 'spikes' as a way to conduct a constant recharging.

In the center of the spheres, a pair of hidden panels opened up to reveal a larger spike pointing out, with electric sparks surging around it. Timekeeper grinned in amusement, making a crushing motion with his gloved fist. Zzzzzzzzzzzzt! Zzzzzzzzzzzt! Zzzzzzzzzzt! Zzzzzzzzzzzt! Zzzzzzzzzzzzt! A heavy blast of lightning struck Requiem dead-on, fizzing her hair and making her eyes go backwards from the surge.

Flit! Timekeeper realized an arrow had plunged into his chest, a minor annoyance at best due to the thick body armor the Doctor provided for him. With a brief yank on it, he watched the navigator fall back on her rump, smoking from the intense blast that would have caused her skin cells to flake off like crazy. Patches of her uniform were burnt off, her legs trembled and her teeth were chattering as if she was in a snowstorm without a coat.

"Stooooreee Stoooreee Suuuctiiooon." He whispered, retracting the tin balls back into his body one at a time. It was like watching rocks being thrown in a lake, his body rippling like a flow of water upon absorbing each one. It didn't matter if he needed them, the girl looked too out of it to continue the fight, as short as it might have been.

There was a time, he believed, that he was once a wimp, a cripple that had to be fed his own meals because he was born with stumps for arms. His parents, born and raised on a Clockwork Island (one of many in the Grand Line) disliked handling a kid who had such high intellect but no hands to build machines meant for peaceful purposes.

Instead, he used his feet to hold tools awhile he sat down on stools in his father's workshop. Guns, cannons, steam-powered giant crossbows, he worked on only weapons which shamed the family name. Disgusted by the immaturity and impractial use of his talents, he was thrown from the very top of the tower into the beach below. No one, not even his parents wanted him around since he would only end up bringing the World Government to their door up in arms.

4 ribs broken, a shattered nose, his spine twisted, and unable to move his legs, that was the result of the landing. If high tide had come in by a few hours early, he would been swept to sea and drowned like a Hammer. Instead, a small tugboat with a well-dressed man in a labcoat spotted his crawling form with a telescope and dropped anchor.

"Do you want revenge?" Was what he asked him, as he pulled out a large bag of advanced medical equipment from the cargo bay. Ever so slowly, Timekeeper shook his head yes up and down, and so the surgery began on his body.

As he watched outside the window when his arms were attacked to plastic prostetic limbs, he could see the Doctor bring out a strange shell-like flute and play a calm, shallow melody. A few seconds later, the Queen Echinoquill emerged from the water, shaking the boat a bit with heavy waves and nearly made the surgeon drop his scalpel into his open ribcage.

Naturally, being a peaceful town, there was little resistance besides the traps stationed around the tower part. Those were quickly dismantled by the hundreds of ravaging, hungry BioxSponges that chewed through the stone and steel like earthworms through clay. And after it was eaten, the 'dung' they produced turned into coral, pure and untainted ocean bedrock.

Circling the tower with streams of coral to prevent the large landmass from falling into the sea, the BioxSponges were moving quickly to turn the island into a large land reef. Humans who approached to study them were either eaten alive or assiliated with Starplanters to grow more of their number. Of course, some of his inventions were used to hold them back but the ground they stood on had turned against the brave homo sapiens.

Within a month, the entire island and everyone on it was gone, and the Queen Echinoquill was satisfied for the time being. There was no trace at all of ever being a city, or any evidence that Timekeeper once lived there. And even he was different, refitted with the latest in technology to control artifical limbs and a new spine thanks to 'donors'. Thanks to the Doctor, he could walk again and he owed him his life for that.

But enough about his past life, the girl needed to be dealt with. He assumed that once he punched her hard enough with his reinforced fist designed to punch holes through boulders, Dreamweaver would take over from there. And then the Doctor would have another Navy personnel with superior DF powers to accomplish his dream of global genocide.

That is...unless she's already out. She'd been laying on the ground without any movement at all for five minutes now, a perfect statue at best. If he punched her, she might end up in a coma, and the Doctor would get mad if a perfect specimen of a Living Log Pose was out of his hands. After all, they could raid more islands once the coordinates are locked, and even navigate a new route past the Red Line.

Walking over, he bent down on his knees to check her pulse with his sensitive neuro-triggered fingers. His eyebrows rose in shock, feeling absolutely no warmth or heartbeat. 'Theee Doooctooor wooon't liiikee thiiis.' He thought, standing back up with a disappointed frown on his face.

It was when he made his way to the Den Den Mushi on the sidewall that his left shoulder began to ache. Ache and moan to be more precise, like a swarm of rats squirming and thrashing about in his sleeve. He quickly shut off his nerve-interface by twisting the red knob on his hand, quickly isolating him from any pain.

Also, he could tell that something was wrong with the hallway since bits and pieces of the pipes and steel girders were missing. The woman? He knew from the research that he dragged out of that lowlife Dragonfish that she could only manipulate the 'small' pieces, smaller than a fingernail at best. That's how she managed to jam the guns so easily. Of course, he outfitted himself with non-magnetic parts should he be attacked, but this was a undefined attack.

No, she was dead. He was sure of it since there was no movement on her part. The 'dead arm' was getting ravaged even further now, as razor-sharp cuts formed along the wiring and gears, with small metal spikes popping out along the folds. And it was spreading, probably spiked a blood vessel and went inside to multiply.

Was this how he planned to die? Killed from a unknown curse that some sick medium siced on him just because he hit her too hard? No. He had to find the source of the problem, and erasing the body was the only thing that could stop the flow. "Stoooreee Stoooreee: Gooold Baaall Scooorcheer." He droned, producing a massive amount of golden-colored spheres which hovered around him.

Each of the baseball-sized objects opened up hidden compartments to reveal a small nozzle dripping with gasoline. Despite the fact each one carried a quart of flammable fuel, it would be more than enough to char-boil the woman into nothing but white ashes.

"100 peeerceeent coontaaiinmeent iis oouur goooaal." He muttered, knowing that if anyone escaped, the WG would respond with warships. Thick streams of flame shot out in droves, consuming the area and destroying the fake walls around her.

That was when a dozen foot-long arrows impaled his back, nearly damaging his vital organs but managed to pierce through the body armor and flesh. Requiem looked a bit worse for wear, shaking off any embers on her clothing and smudging off body grease from her sweaty palms. But she did have a new Longbow in her hand, one armed with even more deadly arrows.

"Stoooop." He said calmly, shutting off the spheres so they would return to his body for maintenance and refilling. Turning around, he could see her dead, chilling eyes glare deep within the bowels of his soul and returned it with indifference. She'd been playing possum, but that was all that saved her. "Yooouuu aareee aaa peeest..."

"...Die..." Was her answer, her Gabriel Bow shining brightly once she pulled on the strands. "...Rapid Barrage..."

A hailstorm of arrows cut into him, either piercing his flesh or bouncing off his armor, prosetitic arms and legs. He guarded his head raising his arm in front of his face to protect himself, biting hard on his lip to keep his focus off the pain. He could see the indifference on her face, but could sense the sheer hatred radiating out of her each time she drew back and fired a dozen or so arrows with each blast.

His spheres appeared, mostly gold and silver type, but they were quickly cut down or impaled through the eyeball, splattering red blood all over the floor upon crashing.

"...organic. Unforgivable..." She muttered to herself, noticing that some of the orbs had living tissue inside of them that produced a mind of it's own. She shot his kneecaps a few times, but the metal plating seemed to handle the hits well.

Her ammunition returned to her the second it made a dent in his armor, dispursing into particles of iron that floated around her like a swarm of wasps. As long as the gloves held out, she could be able to use 100 accuracy on each arrow she released.

There was also the internal damage that she dealt, her 'demonic exorcism' technique that she used on Marcus. She planned to do it slowly this time, to unhinge all the joints and slowly make him bleed internally with his bone structure broken up. Then, she'll have the spikes shoot out and make him completely paralyzed. Mission accomplished.

Or so she thought, as he brought out a lead container with his other pin-prickled arm. Her pupils shrinked in size and she has the sudden urge to puke her own blood on the floor, her bow wavering in her palm before dispersing and flowing back into her sacks.

"Huuurts, doooeesn't iiit?" He snickered, opening the lead box all the way to reveal a glowing Eternal Pose. Requiem seemed to make a screeching wail, clawing at the nearest wall in a state of torment. To her, it was like being cooked alive in a oven with knives sticking into her body despite the fact her ability prevented her from feeling pain of any sort. "Yyyoouur cooomraaadee aalsoo toold mee aboouut yooouur weeaakneess too ootheer coompaassees."

Requiem wasn't listening, she was too busy pounding her skull into the floor now. Two compasses can't maintain a clear frequency next to each other, just as two magnets on the same pole push each other away. Her ears were bleeding now, as was her nose. Even her vision was wobbly, as if she needed glasses or being spun around a hundred times and stopped immediately.

Death, that was the feeling she was feeling. Her other half, the part that was compressed by her new mindset, was struggling to break free. But if that were to happen, she would no longer be able to control metal. She forced her weaker half to shut up so she could focus, but it was like a jackhammer to the forehead. If she was a computer, the opposing magnetic waves were erasing her systems temporarily.

Timekeeper walked over, kicking her hard in the back to send her away from the blood-stained wall. Numerous colored orbs began to appear around him, ready to discharge lighting bolts, flamethrowers, bullets and razor shuriken upon her. Powerful or not, he'll have the Doctor patch her up later. Now was the perfect time to take her down.

That is, until part of the ceiling fell in with a thunderous roar to distract him from behind. And then came the heavy boot to the face; "Lightspeed Kick!!"

He was sent flying down the hall as Prelude landed safely, panting heavily from the running. "God! What is with all these freaks getting in my way?" She muttered angrily, knowing that she had to take out a few platoons of Genova Soldiers and ended up facing a barrage of rockets. A horrifying howl could be heard upstairs, coming closer and closer to the hole she fell through. "Damn it!"

Timekeeper grunted, his face now covered with a footprint mark as he struggled to get back up. Another woman marine, the only one gifted with abnormal strength in arms and legs, had violently hit him. His nose was broken again, due to the stream of blood leaking out. Opening his mouth, he licked up to satisfy his thirsty throat. "Hooow annoooyiiing." He said to himself, adjusting the leg pulleys to stand up straight.

And then he was flat-down on his chest again, half-dazed as the massive behemoth Ratel Badger Zoan fell down from the cracked ceiling on top of his head. "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooow..." He moaned.

"ARRRRRRRRWWWWWOOOOO!" Cresendo howled, sending chills up Prelude's and Requiem's spines, the latter barely felt it due to the magnetic forces slowly vanishing due to the distance between her and Timekeeper. Multiple airblades struck her in the back, and Jester Geppoued down and created a air road to run at her on one leg and kicking with the other.

"Rankyaku Road Trip!" He yelled, jumping in between running, and round-house kicking to drive the airblades hard. She responded with brief grabs and snatches which were avoided with Soru combined with the creation of air roads.

Once her heavy bulk was removed upon attacking the ever crazy Surgeon General, Timekeeper tried to stand up again. No good, his legs were shot and the artificial limbs were broken from the weight pressed down on him. "Jeeesteer...whaat iis gooiing oon?" He said firmly, gathering the orbs around him for protection.

Jester laughed wickedly, staring at both him and his monstrous opponent. "Isn't it obvious, you pathetic worm? I've got to take this beast down for the boss and get a massive promotion. You lay there and get eaten like the trash that you are, for you don't deserve being a Homo Superior being someone who relies on machines for walking and touching."

"Weee aall wooork fooor Doooctooor. Teeaamwoork iiis hoow wee shoouuld go aaboouut thiis." He said, allowing the silver spheres to fire off shuriken into Cresendo's furry legs. She yelped with a sharp cry, ticked off that someone else was trying to get her mad. "Beesiidees, Iii aam taakiing care ooof thee Naaviigaatooor."

"What navigator? It's just us two and the monster! So unless you want to eat your own words, take that creature out or I will chop off your head!" Jester said, noting that Prelude and Requiem were gone, as he formed a aerial cartwheel to slice his long scythes into her arm. She swiped at him a few times, bellowing with blood-stained fangs to rip him and his companion asunder.

* * *

Meanwhile...

THUNK! THUNK! Three, no, four bowling balls collided with Alto's hard head, knocking him over in a daze of confusion. In the Vault Room, he could clearly see a massive opening leading out into the cave (which was done by Hoppi) behind the Doctor.

Chunks and pieces of the rusty anchors littered the battlegrounds, as well as metal bats, shovels, daggers, cannons, bazooka shells, etc. So far, he hadn't managed to get in a single hit on that lab coated jerk. It was if he could teleport, vanishing seconds before being cut and then reappearing elsewhere to throw a kitchen table on him.

'What kind of power does he have? If only I reinforced the strings with seastone, I could neutralize him, but then I wouldn't have as much flexibility.' Alto cursed in thought, swiping the table cleanly in half before realizing that there were 4 lit bombs behind it.

"Heh, naive fool. If you had the power of the Devil inside, you would easily anticipate my attacks and counter it. Surrender and become my servant." The Doctor said, once the explosion blew up in Alto's face. Backflipping in mid-air with ragged Navy Clothing, Alto discarded it to reveal his bare, yet somewhat muscular body and landed safely on both feet.

"Devil Fruits...are a abomination to the Navy and what we stand for." He gasped, spewing out soot and gagging from the smoke. He slashed apart a variety of cabinets that suddenly shot out from the ground at obtuse angles, swirling the strings to shred them to splinters. "And you are no better, a selfish cur who uses human beings for research and experimentation. So get over here so I can beat you up!"

"I think not. A Doctor is someone who avoids physical confrontation and I like to stay alive for the time being. Not that it matters to you, since you have a track record of keeping pirate captains alive. What a wuss you are." He said, moving out of the way of a Double Hand Lance, then fired off a spread of heavy bowling balls which collided with Alto's body awhile he was reeling the strings and untangling them.

'I don't know if it's even possible to win, he seems to have a unlimited amount of ammo to launch at me. And Bolero seems to be in serious trouble.' Alto thought, rubbing the sore flesh and cursing the fact that one of his ribs was damaged. He could plainly hear the cries of help behind the non-soundproof vault door, Bolero was definetly settling the place ablaze and Gregory was cursing him out for it.

Kicking up his shoes in the air, he moved in to deliver a row of cross-slashes to the torso and legs with a burst of speed. 'I don't know if I can risk going any faster without veggies or water, I'll have to take it easy for now.' He thought, jumping over a barrel filled with gunpowder and made his way up a ladder.

The Doctor laughed, appearing on the top floor with several dozen barrels ready to be discharged below. He kicked one after the other, dropping them down upon Alto as the Navy Captain narrowly ran to avoid them. The slightest spark from his strings would set off a nuke-like chain reaction once the main explosion hit the barrels at the bottom, possibly ending up in him being disfigured and burned alive.

That was not something Alto wanted to experience, moving swiftly from ladder to ladder and dodging the barrels. To him, the Doctor's attacks were going in slow-motion despite it being normal time. 'Adrenaline Limit' was the best word to describe it, the sense of your life hanging by a thread awhile everything becomes a blur. If he came to a stop, his stamina would be weakened by the flux of motion, meaning he had to keep going.

Some of the barrels actually came closer to each other, forcing him to leap over them and put wear and tear on his leg joints. White cloth rags on the floor protruded thick steel spikes resulting in him slicing them apart. One of them succeeded in slamming a metal baseball bat on his right leg, making him wince as he kicked it out of the way and jumped over another barrel to climb up a ladder.

Once he arrived to face the Doctor, he realized the fact that for some reason, there was three very big Siberan Tigers on chained leashes in his hand. Tigers that looked ill-fed and looked like they would maul the first chump that they ran into. "Alakazam..." The Doctor chuckled, releasing the trio of man-eating cats upon him.

"I hate tigers!" Alto screamed, tears flowing out of his eyes as he ran away with the dangerous felines in hot pursuit. Their roars and screeches only hastened his exit speed making his way down the ladder. Unlike bugs, he had promised his commander never to take the life of a animal with his strings since they had souls and the ability to adapt.

The big cats narrowly missed clawing his fingers, leaping over the edge of the railing and fell five stories to the ground with bulging eyes. Two of them even tried to fly by flapping their legs, but gravity claimed them and dragged them down to the surface. Alto didn't even want to look to see if they landed safely, it could be gruesome for someone who hated to kill others. Climbing back up with sweat on his forehead, he glared at the Doctor with twitchy fingers.

"Hmmm...you're more like a coward than a hero. I may have to reconsider making you one of us if that's the best you can do." The Doctor laughed, not noticing that Alto lifted his right arm all the way up. And then slammed it down in a karate chop-motion.

"5 Finger Fissure..." He said in a low, hissy voice as the floor the Doctor stood on collapsed, forcing him to 'vanish' into the towel-sized piece of cloth below him and 'reappear' back on the ground floor. Numerous cuts sliced deeply into the Doctor's flank and legs, ripping his specialized body armor apart with targeting the vital straps connecting them. The Doctor seemed almost frozen, disbelieving that someone actually hurt him after years of training himself to avoid attacks.

THUD!! Without giving thought to his own safety, he jumped over the ledge with his eyes closed. 5 seconds later, his rear was sore and his legs felt like a steamroller ran over them. "No more games, Doctor. I see now the power you were gifted with, and I will put a stop to it the only way I know how: By destroying this entire area!" He grunted, stumbling to his feet and swaying, rubbing the sore spots with his hands for massaging.

"Really now?" The Doctor said, snapping out of his stupor. True, he was bleeding now and he lacked the armor needed to deflect his strings, but he had his Devil Fruit to balance things out. That, and a thousand men ready to deploy in the complex.

"Really." Angling his right arm in front and his left arm in the back to make a S-like shape, he drew his two legs together which puzzled the Doctor a bit. "Double Hand..." he began to spun in place, his strings becoming visible at the same time turning a light grey. They weaved around his body, avoiding contact with skin and clothing, forming into a tight cone-like shape. "Tornado!!"

It was instantaneous, a flash of razor steel that flew out in all directions, cutting the very air itself to produce heavy shockwaves of wind. In the center, Alto spun in place on one foot to 'curve' his wires outwards like tarps, flapping them to expel excess heat and carve up the pavement. The white patches of cloth were torn asunder, burned to a crisp from the waves of steaming hot wires running through them.

Even the Doctor struggled to avoid the advancing threads, moving from one place to another as soon as he sensed them approaching. "That's more like it, the rumors that you had gained the power of Double Hand are true." He smirked, opening his palms to fire off a dozen poison darts. They lasted about three seconds before being cut into 5 halves.

Through the haze of threads, he could clearly see that Alto's glasses had shifted into a blood red color, filled with hatred and disgust. "Come at me, you pathetic magician of a doctor." Alto said sternly, ready to carve the Doctor to pieces as he hopped foward awhile spinning in place. Even if dead, he would still get the bounty with 20 taken off the total.

A long thin, white sheet appeared in front of the two hands, and the snout of a rather large cannon emerged out of it. The Doctor grinned viciously, knowing it was time to kick the battle up another notch, even if it meant exposing his true powers. "It's time for you to join the New Generation of Superiority!" With that, the cannon boomed loudly, firing off a explosive cannonball with enough gunpowder to level a city block.

'This...could be bad.'

* * *

"They got Murphy!" One of the marines said outside, wildly firing at the gelatinous green BioxSponge emerging from a comrade's mouth. It was watching a blimp deflate, the muscle and bone inside the flesh evaporated as the creature devoured them from the inside. Finally, the head was consumed as the creature burst out of the empty skin ready to devour anything in it's way and turn it into coral.

The battlefield was getting more hectic than ever, marines running everywhere to take out anyone with a Starplanter grasping on the chest. Even the chain of command was disrupted since the infected were closing in. A bazooka blew apart one of the Majors bubbling crazily from the mouth, and the land was ravaged with mortar wounds.

"Evacuate all injured on the ship, make sure none of them are infested!" One of the commanders yelled out, as more and more marines came off the ship with stretchers and medical gear. The rest stayed behind to load and support the thirty cannons onboard, cleaning them out and aiming them at the port. So far, the creatures were making no movement to the ocean water.

One of the ships was carrying 'tainted' fruit juice in barrels upon inspection for Starplanter stowaways, which were used to feed the BioxSponges as a distraction. Unfortunately it either A. killed them offright by turning their foamy skin gray and moldy or B. Give them super physical/elemental abilities. The latter kind was becoming a regular pain in the butt when hit by cannonballs and simply rebounding them away with different powers of several Devil Fruits.

"This is going to be a long fight..." One of the sub-commanders sighed, wishing the Lieutenants would arrive already to knock this 'alien' army into non-existence. He studied the huddled figures shivering on the top deck, covered with blankets and calming down the frightened children.

About 35 people emerged from the cave entrance, escorted by Marine recruits covered in coral slime and dung. According to them, a second entrance was made in the building using timed explosives and a rope ladder, no doubt made by Gladyr. Hundreds still remained trapped in the building and shots were fired by Genova Corp guards, meaning the Non DF prisoners no longer had any use as hostages.

Mounted cannons roared once the fuses were lit, blasting apart the hordes of BioxSponges in the village and lighting parts of it on fire. Some of the villagers complained but were silenced with the promise of a ton of berri put into their bank after this was accomplished. After all, property damage had to be hushed to prevent news from coming out to dishonor the name of the Gandros Navy unit.

'Heaven help us...' He thought, just as the ground he stood on turned into a bluish-green coral, and a BioxSponge shot out from beneath to swallow him whole, then fled underground to avoid a barrage of cannonballs.

* * *

"Line them up!" Barked one of the senior guards, standing on a high podium in the middle of the grassy courtyard. He pounded his stun baton against his other hand, grinning mischievously.

Row after row of men, women, and children were standing up with shackles bound to their arms and legs. Even if they were capable of running away, it would be like doing the three-leg race with 20 people clinging to the other. Not to mention the explosives inside the cuffs on their hands.

40 armed guards stood on either side of the large crowd, their facial expressions unreadable but the message was clear: They were going to die. Children cried in their mother's arms, men bawled like babies, and rumors of their demise spread. One of them attempted to move out of the square formation, only to be clubbed over and over again with the heavy rifles until he submitted.

In front of them was a wide staircase with 20 steps, leading up to a makeshift wooden gallows with standard drop trapdoors. It was the Doctor's idea to create one, since so many pirates had to face strangling with a defeated look on their face right before their heart stops. Fitting for Homo Sapiens, whose crime was being a weak, pathetic race of humanity who destroyed the planet for selfish reasons.

One-by-one, the crowd formed a line towards a torturous hell that awaited them, the hope gone from their faces. If only the marines hadn't interfered, if only they had the bodies needed to sustain the transformation of a Devil Fruit, if only... But it was too late to think otherwise, rebelling against a superior race was grounds for execution.

As the first 10 lined up, the commander gave the order to lower the ropes down quickly. Rumors of infiltration into the ranks was a grave concern for his people, taking down these lesser beings will require about two hours if he timed it right and sped up the hangings. 4 of the people were children, so stools and chairs were placed under their feet so the Genova Commander could tighten the rope around securely so the neck would snap. The rest, 3 male adults and 3 women, were given the usual knot check and tightening and pleaded for their lives with tears in their eyes.

"Pathetic." He kicked one of the men in the ribs, then punched one of the ladies in the face a few times to shut them up. "Begging doesn't work on someone who's been killing indiscriminately for 20 years. Accept your fate and let the maggots feast on your corpses, right before we throw you into the Boiler to flash-burn you until you are nothing but white ashes."

He smacked the children around as well, laughing as one of them wet themselves out of fear. "Feel the tension of the world being weighed down against you, for you as an inferior race have done NOTHING worthwhile in your lifetime to help others or the environment. Remember that just when you no longer have the ability to breathe."

Walking to the side of the gallows, he moved his hand in a thumbs down position to signal the drop. The air was still with breath-taking silence, the kind of moment separating a person from life or death when laying on the bed helpless before the Reaper himself.

The ropes dropped, but not all the way, for a second later they were severed. The humans tied to the ends dropped down, unharmed but now had sore buttocks or chests from the impact. Still, for the moment they were spared a horrific death

"Interference! Kill them all!" The commander yelled out to his men, taken by surprise by the sudden ambush. He couldn't see what cut the ropes or the person who threw it, but the Doctor was blunt on the order of complete extermination. The hostages screamed bloody murder, grouping to each other and hugging for support once the soldiers turned about to face them with the safety off on their rifles.

"I won't do that if I were you." The commander heard from behind, as a razor-sharp kunai gracefully slid a quarter of an inch from his throat. The voice sounded young but dull, probably male. He didn't even sense the guy's presence when he was snuck up on.

"What do you want? Who are you to threaten a Commander of the Genova Corps?" He growled, knowing that if he tried to grab the guy from behind, his neck would be sliced off in an instant.

"Me? Not much." The man said calmly, as the Commander saw his men one by one look down at the floor and turned to face him. A faint ringing could be heard, growing a bit louder with each strike like a bell. "You should really try not to underestimate the Navy, Commander. We have more connections than you think. As for who I am, just a wandering stalker of a musician."

He felt the kunai move away from his arteries, turning his head sideways to face the imposter who was fully clothed in Elite Genova Corp clothing, with curly blond hair poking out the sides of the sides and in the back. The kunai slid back into his sleeve, leaving him armed with only a tambourine.

"Musician, my ass! Die, intruder!" He said, bringing out a hidden pistol instantaneously to fire upon the curly haired gentleman. The man only smiled, snapping his finger against the tambourine at the same time.

That was when the arm literally exploded, making him howl out in a furious rage as his gun dropped to the floor. Blood, gore and folds of burnt flesh flew about the courtyard, frightening some of the kids as it got on their clothes and faces. Chunks of the severed hand laid about on the floor, the blood already evaporating into the air.

"GAAAAAAH! Devil Fruit user! How dare you betray the Executioners of the SUPA!" He bellowed, cradling the heavily bleeding open wound with his other arm. "My brethren will hunt all you weak mammals down with our superior numbers, island to island until only those gifted by the Devil remain! The Genova Corps will not rest until we-" Before he could continue ranting to draw attention away from his hand curling around his back flank to bring out a pin grenade, a dozen Marines dive-tackled him to the ground and commenced disarmament procedure and applying specialized non-breakable steel handcuffs to the wrists.

Since the Commander was involved in Piracy, Absolute Justice had to be be upheld in place of Moral Justice. He along with the 80 guards that were subdued would be carried off into a transport ship with Pacifista guards acquired with permission from the World Government, since the Kuma bots were the only thing that could handle blood-crazed steroid abusers like himself. Trials would be made, bail denied, and the news would be rewritten so the people of Genova Island would be prostituted for attempted treason against the World Government. All in all, the Navy had their work cut out for them this time.

"Oh please, there's nothing to be steamed about. You should have realized that you will pay for your crimes sooner or later. Guys, take over." The young man smirked, having his ring finger bend over to his instrument as he turned around to jump off the ledge of the podium. His beloved wasn't to be found here for some reason, despite him chasing her halfway across the Grand Line.

For a traveling musician, he didn't have the time to play around with a bunch of lame villians who were barely above the 200 million berri mark. All that mattered was to reunite with his one true love and kill the bastard who claimed her as a fiancee to win her hand in marriage. His cheeks flushed red just thinking about it, just as the Marines in disguise began to free the civilians from the shackles and disarming the small bombs.

Flik! As easily as he come in, he vanished without a trace pinging his specialized tool with his finger. Yet for some of the Marines that went past, they could detect a noxious odor in the air that caused a few to either faint or throw up their lunch.

"_Everybody's a critic..."_ Was the last thing they heard of him before his voice trailed off into thin air.

* * *

Silver Balls- Fires special disks made to slice into human flesh like a knife through butter, can also be used for surgery on his patents.

Tin Ball- A automated sphere with a internal power source that constantly recharges. It then fires a powerful burst of volts. Used to restart a person's heart or wake a person from a deep sleep.

Gold Ball-A automated sphere that uses internal fuel for both flight and to expel thick streams of flame. Sometimes used to cauterize deep cuts.

5 Finger Fissure- A chop to slice a person's armor apart. Doesn't kill but stings like heck.

Double Hand Tornado-A 20 foot wide blur of destruction, used to carve holes in wooden pirate ships and is mobile. Unfortunately, it can't stand up to explosions and leaves him vulnerable for a minute or two due to spinning and untangling the strings.

Pacifista-A special squad made of mass-produced Kuma droids.


	26. Charge straight ahead! 4 vs 1001 men!

Ch 26

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, Monster Chopper would have half a comic devoted to his fight against the guy in the peach latex outfit next week. Seriously, I never thought that the 'Peach Boy' folklore was going to be used for this sort of thing but I'm impressed by his physical ability without a Devil Fruit.

SH: Minor note, those who think it's 'cool' to be in Shabondy in their OC fics should understand that by far, Kizaru seems to beat the tar out of anyone save the 'Dark King', so please set your appearance on such a island before the Strawhats come out to create a war. Strangely enough, there's a bit of plotholes in the manga and more fighting than usual, but I'm sure it will be back to normal without a lot of arrests. Please read the other OC fics in the meantime awhile I work hard to make more chapters, one more to go before a new arc begins! P.S. Any OC authors who read this should use my forums to chat with each other and do OC roleplays to test interaction with each other's characters. That is all.

* * *

Ch 26

_"Amongst the chaos and the near decimation of the Naval Fleet by the sheer firepower of the Ark, a young lad known as Alto stood on the battle bridge to face Atos despite the sheer radiance of a massive amount of valor. To those who lived to tell the tale, the two are almost evenly matched in terms of speed and power but Alto failed to kill Atos when he was knocked over. Then things got messy."_

"I think the sun exploded." Was the first words that Alto said, his eyes stinging from the accused flash of light that nearly blinded him. His words then echoed a hundred times over in the vastness of the white space. Even when looking down, he could see he was standing on nothing but air.

About ten seconds ago, the mighty captain of a Navy Ship was facing down a giant cannonball capable of shattering every bone in his body. Without time to get out of the way, he sliced downwards with a strong chop with the strings at full length.

Instead of exploding, however, there was a huge flash of light that engulfed him completely and suddenly this hollow white void appeared before him. Empty, shallow and without any features, the place he was in stretched out for miles in all directions and if he attempted to reach the end, he would end up back at the beginning point.

"Hello?" He called out with his hands by his mouth, hopeful that someone else was trapped like him.

"HELLO?"

"HELLO?"

"HELLO?"

"HELLO?"

"HELLO?"

"HELLO?"

'Damn, that's annoying.' Alto thought, wincing from the high pitched echoes that bounced all over the endless area. Floating about did have it's advantages of course, since he could explore the place a bit more thoroughly and he could do his business without anyone watching.

Graffiti seemed to litter in the lower parts, undecipherable and crude at best, but to him it looked like pleas for help. One of them looked like a bunch of checkmarks to tell how long the person was inside, so many of which that he couldn't count that high without a headache. Green slime oozed from where he assumed was the ceiling, dripping down on his half naked body. He shivered since the slime felt a bit cold to him, maybe 28 degrees F at the most.

There had to be an exit somewhere in this ever-expanding prison of slime and graffiti, and he knew that it had to do with the Doctor's specialized Devil Fruit Power. True, he never expected such a lame ability to be this strong out of the Paramecia and Logia fruits he encountered both in the Grand Line and outside the Red Line, but this was different. It was if the Doctor had made a entire dimension to trap him in, as well as others before him.

The question that mattered most was Why? Why keep him here when they were fighting an epic battle? Flexing his fingers, he noticed the strings were very loose and unstraightened after performing that powerful slice which was odd since he always retracted them after a attack. With a brief slap downwards, the wires reminded back into coils around the fingers for later usage.

Tumbling in the air, he zipped along like trout clinging hard on a baited hook to get a better look at his surroundings despite the fact he really wasn't going anywhere at all. Up was down, left was right, the very physics of the dimension were topsy-curvy to him in general. Could this really be the true power of the Devil Fruit?

"Having fun, boy?" Looking up, or was it down; Alto saw the sneering face of the Doctor standing properly about 30 feet before him out of string range. He looked a bit sore from the last attack done to him with Double Hand, using special bandages to cut off the blood flow from open wounds. "I suppose you're wondering why I sent you to the ROOM of all places. Simply put, it's the best place to take you down."

"Why? You usually fire off those things from your hands or bring out a sheet to bring out larger objects. Yet there's no way you can do stuff like that in a weightless environment, I can just dodge or fly over it." Alto said, spinning in the air to make his point. The heavy lead cannonball that struck him in the back suddenly without warning, making him cough up some extra blood.

"You were saying?" The Doctor grinned, snapping his fingers as row after row of cannon mortars lined up around Alto by the hundreds, floating in mid-air. "It doesn't matter if the gravity is null and void, I can summon anything I wish in this realm big and small. Know why?"

"Because you're a lame magician who poses as a man of health." Alto shot back, wiping some of the blood off his face and licked his hands clean. No sense in making his strings unkept for cutting after all but his back now hurt like hell. He''ll have to ask Gandyr for a brace if he survived this deadly assault. "Besides, there's no way you can set off that many cannons on a single person without a lit match with your power."

"Magic is another word for a miracle, boy. Sure, I can't summon fire, but fire is just a tool that primitive apes invented to cook meals. Our kind, however, can kill Sea Kings and then torch them without the tools. And whoever said I was using the cannonballs, huh?" With that, the cannons themselves were propelled at Alto like rockets in all directions, forcing him to take drastic action by 'flying' towards the closest one and stood on top of it.

Quickly moving his hands out awhile balancing on the steel column part, he commenced the slicing and dicing of the cannons, but he still got pelted by debris. Wincing a bit and wishing he didn't throw off his jacket, he grabbed one of the approaching weapons of minor destruction as if it was as light as a feather and tossed it hard into a group of cannons resulting in a fiery collision. Of course, as soon as the gunpowder was lit, the cannons just 'vanished' the second the Doctor snapped his fingers.

"Thought as much." Alto said, chopping up a 7 foot long cannon into smaller and smaller chunks using '4 Finger Crossblade', which is basically turning into cubes which become smaller cubes in rapid succession of the finger movements.

He turned to do the same to a cannon falling down from above, slapping any pieces of cold steel with his unwired hand. "Your main weakness is fire, I believe. Out of the Item Devil Fruits that were listed, your power was one of the most useless in the grand DF dictionary. That's why you locked Bolero up despite the fact that Merman can't obtain the power of a Devil Fruit so easily."

"Sooo...what?" The Doctor smirked, folding his arms knowing that even with his DF exposed, Alto had nothing but his power to left heavy objects and those wapolium strings. Sooner or later, he would be completely worn out from fatigue and exhaustion, plus his wounds might reopen to produce major blood loss.

Anchors, couches, chairs, knives, swords, desks, doors (of many types), cabinets, radios, and many other furniture places joined the fray, causing Alto to kick it up a notch jumping all over the area with little control of propelling speed. With a flick of the wrist, he chopped a anchor and desk in one swing, making his way higher and higher to approach the Doctor.

"The power to make things appear and disappear, the true power of the Hanky Hanky fruit. " Alto muttered under his breath, cursing the fact that he was now destroying priceless artifacts like vases and statues. "If the object was touched by a rag or hanky, the DF user can then 'copy' the object to launch or make it disappear in an instant."

"Correct, captain. But that's not all." He said, wagging his finger as Alto drew back his right hand upon getting within string range. He didn't even bleed when the five wires shot through him with enough force to rip apart his vital organs. Alto blinked in confusion before ending up buried under a gigantic pile of junk and household items. "I can make people 'vanish' as well into the realm where all the items I store are kept. Thus, I can't actually enter the space myself but you can have fun with all my toys which I plan to drop entire landfills upon the Holyland Island Mariejois."

He chuckled, watching Alto grunting to push the heavy pile off him as the items increased per second. 'It's no use...no matter how much weight you lift, I can increase the load a thousand-fold!' The Doctor thought in the real world, massaging his palms since his gloves were made entirely out of handkerchief material. He would actually feel the sharp lashes of the wires stinging him, but they were small like Mosquito bites.

Although it seemed like Alto was in another dimension, he was actually 'trapped' inside a giant hanky cocoon that engulfed him in the center of the room. Even if he spent the rest of his life to reach the edge, the Doctor could keep him in one place at all times in that alternate 'world'.

Soldier after soldier poured in from the doors and hidden entryways, his own elite troops were gathering en masse in the Vault Room for a complete lockdown. Rumors that the commander had been taken down by a rogue Marine were quickly silenced in his presence, since he was not in the best of moods.

Within fifteen minutes, the cocoon would open up and Alto would be too weak to resist the hundreds of tranquilizers that they'll fire upon him. The Doctor would attempt to contact Dreamweaver via meditation afterwards and Voila! One brainwashed captain of a famous crew under his command, how simply wonderful! The Doctor spun around happily now, knowing that soon his ultimate plans were growing into fruition!

Back in the 'Hanky World'...

"Man, this is heavy..." Alto grunted, already bending his knees to keep the pile from falling over and burying him into the floor. He was way over the limit of what he could handle, running on the remnants of his veggie bento to supply his strength.

He probably had enough power to throw it about once into the air. Problem was that the Doctor was still watching his very move and would have more junk attack him on all sides to knock him silly. Even worse is that he could use Double Hand three more times because of those Wardens and the Gatekeepers.

'Which means that I have to use that and hope for the best.' He grunted in his thoughts, really annoyed by the aspect of using that technique. But he had no choice in the matter, if another 300 pounds of weight was added, he would not doubt be crushed into a bloody pulp. Not his best way of dying when on a mission where he was 'non-expendable'.

"Jujitsu style: Babel Tower Toss!!" With a strong cry of anguish, he forcibly heaved the heap of furniture and various items into the air awhile spreading his left arm in front and his left hand above his head. It had to be quick and precise, the intersections of the criss-crossing had to be accurate to the nearest centimeter.

The next few seconds were a blur to him, as he began to weave the attack together piece by piece leaving nothing to chance. His arms flowed smoothly, outstretching to pattern a web-like blanket of wires around him awhile making sure that they didn't get too close to his body. The slightest mistake could be like going through a giant cheese grater and then stomped into hamburger meat by the falling trash pile.

'I have to have faith in my comrades...even if they are a bunch of nuts. It will last a very short time anyway, but at least I'll be able to formulate a plan.' He thought, intertwining the very fabric of the strings harder and densier for every passing second. "DOUBLE HAND..."

* * *

4th in Rank, 4th in everything from intelligence to combat strength. The only way to climb the ladder was to surpass the 3rd in Rank but that was next to impossible. For Bolero, the only Dragonfish hybrid of his kind, surviving the power of a demented rooster man from heck was the best way to raise his standing in the Navy.

Unfortunately, that idiot teenage human was messing up with his natural rhythm. Each time he sucked in moisture to spew a fast bubble, Gregory slapped his snout with the spear to make him miss his target, which was getting him very ticked off at the moment. And when he gets mad, towns get razed to the ground. **"WILL YOU STOP HITTING ME!! I'M JUST TRYING TO STOP HIM FROM MOVING! THOSE TALONS HURT YA KNOW!"**

"I don't care! He's still my brother, try something else besides poison and explosions!" Gregory said, twisting around to repel a flying corkscrew kick that hit over 6 times against his spear, in which his brother flipped backwards and landed in a offensive position.

The air was now thick with steamy air, since the fireballs that missed melted part of the steel girders and pipes. Although Bolero was perfectly fine since steam carried moisture, the two humans were sweating up a storm trying to breathe normally in the warm fog. Even the built-in AC/DC Air Conditioner was a sack of charred metal slush, making the environment very suitable for Bolero's taste.

Still, the breed of rooster that Gregory's brother chose was suited to harsh climates, making him formidable to rapidly jab Bolero with a dozen sharp talon jabs. About a fourth of them actually tore into the skin, but were repelled by the lively tendrils that were moving about and extending ever so slowly. **"AT LAST! MY SPINES ARE BACK TO NORMAL AFTER ALL THIS TIME!**" Bolero laughed wildly, his loud roar shattering any glass in the vicinity.

Like a wave of ocean water, the long tendril cords lashed out at John, cutting into the floor and narrowly clipping one of the feathered wings. Even if he had orders not to poison, stinging the bastard to numb his body would be more than enough. The roosterman backed off a bit, hopping from one tendril to the next, swinging on the cords to climb up and over the hazardous assault.

Gregory, on the other hand, was hopping and swerving to avoid the dangerous cord-like weapons coming out of Bolero's back, step-siding a thick slash that dented the concrete flooring. "Knock it off!"

"NO!" Bolero roared as he beat his chest proudly, enjoying the fact that he was back at 100 after months of confinement. No human civilian can tell a merman what to do, only the captain had his full respect. "B-O-O-M CLUSTER BUBBLE!" Sucking in moisture from the steamy air, he spat out a purple bubble at the Roosterman which seemed to go ten times faster than the other bubbles so far.

However, the speed of the Zoan was a bit faster than he expected, since each of the bubbles ended up missing him by mere inches. Bounding off the floor and walls and flapping his 'wings' for a slight updraft float, he made illusions of himself to attract the small missiles of massive destruction.

"**HOLD STILL SO I CAN FRY YA!"** Bolero roared, going between swiping with the tendrils and blasting away with his bubbles. Already, the corridor that the trio came through was blocked off by rubble and piping. He got a drop-kick on the head for his troubles once the Roosterman cleared through his complicated maze of chaos, making him dizzy since he bit his tongue by accident. No talking meant no sonar after all.

Kick after kick pelted him, driving hard into his gut and stomach like a machinegun on auto-pilot. Subconciously, his spines retracted back into his back and arms at minimum length meaning that his potential was at it's lowest in terms of fighting ability. And since he couldn't 'see', merman rage was not possible. All he could do for the time being was block with both arms.

"Stop it, Brother!" John was violently shoved by a strong push of Gregory's pole-piece of the spear, as the fisherman took over as a defender. Cawing wildly, the two went off into a absolute flurry of swipes, slashes, parries, kicks and side-winder thrusts.

A rapid jab of side kicks was repelled by the spinning staff part, followed by a fierce mule kick combo. Gregory grunted, unable to see all four kicks as they pelted his ribs and shoulders. Without letting him catch his breath, John leapt up by flapping his wings and bent his knee before firing his foot down on Gregory's leg.

"Owwwww!! Geez, that smarts!" Gregory wailed in pain as the talons tore three bloody lines into the muscle tissue and ripped his jeans. He didn't fall over from the pain, however, using the spear-part to stab the floor as a walking stick.

"You can't defeat me...kohkohkoh..." A blazing fast reverse heel kick to the chest made him cough up some more blood, then brought the knee up the chest, awhile the hip moved left to extend the kicking outside edge of the foot to deal a powerful vertical kick that sent him flying through a wall. At the same time, the torch part was snapped in half upon descent as he skidded across the floor in the false room.

Relaxed by the fact that this man who claimed to be his 'brother' was no doubt killed by his waltz performance, John turned his attention to the troublesome merman who was starting to get his sonar back by rehinging his wide jawline. Because of that beast, some of his tail feathers were burnt off from those explosive bubbles. Going to his belt, he pulled out two steel-clad glaive shoes made for his over-sized talons and put them on, knowing that his footwork would replace speed for sheer power.

At least, that's what the Doctor told him and the Doctor was usually right, right? He couldn't remember much about his talks, only the fact that before he was freed, he was strapped to a table with seastone belts in a dimly lit room where he was constantly asked questions to the point of irritation. Out of the countless amount of Zoans and Paramecia types (Logias were extremely rare for the Doctor to obtain), he was the Doctor's favorite.

He supposed it was the way he kicked the lower class human trash around, or picking on the children that the Doctor abducted from the nearby village. Stealing meals from them was also a bonus since the Rooster Combat form took a lot of stamina and meat, which thankfully he ate before preventing those intruders from reaching the Vault Room.

No matter dwelling on small matters, one hit from his special combat grieves could bust a gaping truck-sized hole through a Sea King. There was no way some idiotic hybrid could fight against his dynamic stretching kicks. "Eat foot, you freak! Kohkohkoh!!" He yelled out, breaking into a fast run and leapt up towards Bolero. "Capon Spin!" In mid-air, he performed four reverse roundhouse kicks to the throat, face, and chest before rebounding off the face to avoid the dozens of tendrils that came upon him like a wave of bamboo stalks.

'Only the points are poisonous, the rest of the tendril is merely skin and some muscle tissue so it can move around.' John thought, crescent-kicking a bunch of them away with one foot and dealing minor scars. Napalmish blood sipped out drop by drop onto the floor and burned small flickers of flame before dying out a few minutes later. 'What's worse is the fact that his blubbery skin can take the impact and regenerate slowly.'

He dodged a powerful tendril drill thrust that arced out of Bolero's arm, then jumped over the second arm and struck it hard with a somersault twist kick. Bolero bellowed out in pain, since his arms were not as reinforced as his chest and the rest of his body. (mainly because Dragonfish have light 'fins'.

"**FINALLY**!" Bolero gasped as if he was submerged in saltwater for an hour or more, since he was part dolphin. The range of vision became clear as a bell again the second he bellowed out, covered in a dim green light due to the sonar bouncing off. He suddenly was pushed back by a fierce combination of Reverse Roundhouse heel kicks and a strong sidekick to the left arm. The last kick was quickly repelled by a umbrella-like shield of tendrils that he formed.

"**IS THAT ALL, HUMAN**?" Bolero grunted angrily, rubbing the sore parts where he was kicked. "**ON A SCALE FROM ONE TO TEN IN TERMS OF ATTACK, YOU DEFINETLY SCORE A FIVE OR LESS. THOSE HURT ME A BIT AFTER ALL**."

"Quiet, merman scum! Because of you mutant freaks, we as the superior race have to deal with you sinking our ships! Once we kill off the apes, every last merman will be hunted down and slaughtered like the fish they are!" He said, leaping back up to deliver a nasty Axe Kick to the head, only to shatter the tendril shield which moved up to guard.

The hybrid merman grunted from the impact but stood his ground, and began to suck up moisture in the air to gather in his cheeks. Awhile he hated the fact that he lost some of his spines, one clean shot should take the fool out. Problem was that stupid rooster guy was faster than Alto, he could barely trace the kicks.

"**B-O-O-M BUBBLE SEEKERS**!" He shouted, spewing about eighteen bubbles or more in random directions. Without hesitation, John kicked off the wall to gain speed and momentum to arc over the barrage, jumped over Bolero's head again and performed a explosive mule kick to the blowhole. "**YEOOOW! THAT** **SMARTS**!" Bolero screeched, as two dozen tendrils erupted from his backside to entangle John before he could land perfectly again.

John struggled hard to break free, but the whip-like spines were as tight as iron now that they 'locked' his joints to prevent him from breaking free. Carefully, they extended around to the front so he would come face-to-face with Bolero's ticked off mug.

"**HUMAN, IT'S ONE THING TO MOCK ME AND MY INTELLIGENCE BUT IT'S ANOTHER THING TO SAY THAT I HAVE ANY TIES TO THE MERMAN RACE! THE DRAGONFISH CLAN HAS NO LOYALTY WHATSOEVER TO JIMBEI AND HIS IDIOTIC WAYS, AND ANY MERMAN WHO FACES US WILL BE POISONED AND DEVOURED. IT'S BECAUSE OF THEM THAT I WAS THROWN INTO THE NAVY IN THE FIRST PLACE**!" The tendrils tightened harder now, nearly cutting off the blood flow to the head as Bolero ranted. "**SO EITHER GIVE UP OR OWN UP**!"

"Kohkohkoh! Broody Peck!" Bolero now realized the importance of depth perception for his eyes, as John craned his head back to drive his extra sharp beak into the forehead. It cut through the protective layers of flesh and forced him to release his hold on the Rooster Man who landed back on the floor. "And... Chanticleer Flow!" He said, springing up about three foot in the air to perform a four hit butterfly kick to the abdomen and chest.

"URRRRGH!" It felt like a dozen jackhammers pounding at his gut, nearly knocking him over had it not been for his tendrils to stabilize him. And just as quickly, part of the floor exploded beneath his feet to deal heavy burns to John's wings which he shifted into Zoan-human rooster arms.

'What was that?' He wondered, backing off only to set off another explosion of heat and flame.

"**HEH...HEHEHEHE...MORON**." Bolero snickered, spitting up a little blood that set a paper wall aflame for a few minutes. "**TO ME, EVERYTHING IS TRANSPARENT. YOU DIDN'T THINK I WOULD BE CALLED THE GOD OF FLAMES IF I WENT EASY ON PATHETIC MORTALS LIKE YOURSELVES**." With a sudden burst of speed, he rammed Joey hard with a clothesline and bashed him into another corner of the room where he set off a chain of infernoes.

"Those #ing bubbles you shot out...they didn't pop, did they?" Bolero turned around to see Gregory walking with a slight cramp in his walk and cradling his left arm in a makeshift sling of the Genova Corp suit.

"GOOD TO SEE YOU SURVIVED, ALTO WOULD SEND ME FLYING IF YOU WERE HARMED. AH...WHAT'S THAT?" Between his speech, he noted the odd multi-segmented pole where the torch was.

"My ascension into #ing manhood." Was his reply taking off to approach John head-on despite the invisible 'land mines' going off seconds after contact. Yet, he seemed to duck and roll to snuff the fire before going on, or avoid them all together.

'IMPOSSIBLE!' Bolero's eyes elongated out of shock, taken back by the fact that the human had seen through one of his most complex moves.

'If that #y merman thinks he can trick one of the greatest fisherman in the world, he has another thing coming. After years of intensive training, I can spot even the smallest air bubble and nail the fish below with my spear.' Gregory thought, dashing quickly until he reached John, who was already getting up with a primal growl. His feathers were blackened farter, some of which were burnt off into ashes.

"No one makes a fool out of me! Die, you mindless freak! Yangbi Jette!" He said, completely going airborne and ignoring Gregory in order to perform a rapid-spinning corkscrew flying kick.

Gearing his right arm behind his back with the long spearpole in hand, he swung hard with a slight wavering. Only thing different was that his eyes were shut for some reason. "Gorge him...Yamada."

It happened in a matter of seconds, as seven crimson-stained lines appeared and circled around John's body to tear deep into the flesh. The roosterman looked stunned as his own red blood flowed like rivers onto the floor, barely able to descent into a decent landing position.

Gregory pulled back hard with gritted teeth, his shoes planted into the ground.

"Draw back the catch." He said, as John was yanked off the floor quickly towards him.

"And release!" With a strong sprint, he tackled his John by shoving the Spear hard into the stomach area. "Next, the **Trolling**!"

John ended up flailing backwards, as several more slashes were torn into his hide with a twitch of the spear rod. He kicked randomly at air as his forehead bled, seeping into his eyes to damage his line of vision.

"GO GET 'EM, KID!" Bolero roared, walking out of the room since he could tell Gregory had this one in the bag. It was very simple to him now that he had sonar back online, the torchspear Gregory had before was hollow inside on one side. Thus, he was presented with a better weapon, a fishing pole with many hooks.

Not that it was his business, the transparent bubble bombs that he inserted will pop anytime now. And he certainly wasn't getting in the way of family matters, since the only way he dealt with his family members was to beat them to a pulp before they could.

No. First things first, like the stupid vault door and bars blocking his way. Alto was being awfully silent for some reason, and he knew the Doctor more than anyone, that cowardly sneak. Gritting his teeth, he opened his jaw all the way and puffed his gut inwards, sucking in the remaining water vapor in the air.

"**B-O-O-M BUBBLE STREAM**!" He yelled out, spewing a straight line of red bubbles at the vault door. But instead of exploding, the first one that touched it clinged on and grew in diameter once the second bubble attached and merged, and so on. He did hear what Alto told him to begin with, so by making the bubbles fuse, the detonation would have to be massive in scale.

"Why are you fighting me? I want to kill only the merman!" John growled, rapidly side-kicking Gregory's spear blocks with the flat side. He had to be wary now because of the fishing pole with the hooks, since the lad had very good skill with casting.

"I won't let you do that! It is my duty as the chief's second son to bring you back to the village, even it it means losing my life in the process. Please snap out of it!" He said, avoiding a roundhouse mulekick and jumped over the second mulekick, spinning in mid-flight to cast the hooks out around John. "Net Bait."

The hooks instantly twisted around him, tying his feet together before he could deal another round of kicks. "And Cleave." John screamed as the hooks impaled the thick skin of his chicken legs, done by a strong tug on the fishing rod. He fell over face-first, his beak smashing into the floorboards.

"You do realize how much I like you, bro?" Gregory's eyes were tearing up now, saddened that his brother was struggling to keep fighting. "I always admired you. You were always the front man whenever we went fishing for giant tuna, bashing the heads of those barbaric fish with clawed fins."

'#t, why can't I break this?' John thought, attempting to kick off the ground to get some distance, only for Gregory to stomp down on his leg.

"However..." He stared right into his brother's placid, zoned-out eyes as he put pressure on that leg joint. "I was the more sadistic of the family, chopping the fish before we made landfall and grilled it to perfection. Even when that barbaric merman that you beat up came on shore, I was the first to greet it with a dozen spears soaked in Blawfish toxin. Sadly, it's poison neutralized mine but that's not the point."

"Then what is the point, you weirdo?" John barked back, reverting back to human form to see if the sudden change could release the wires hold. Instead, they just got tightener.

Gregory's eyes gleamed dangerously in the dim light of the room, licking his lips in amusement. "Ever since I came into this place, I've been feeling strange urges that I can't explain. When I escaped the first time with those Bake Wardens in tow, I felt the need to suffocate kittens, bury dogs halfway in the sand and do all sorts of mischief. Now that I'm back, I felt the urge growing stronger but the feeling of it just now left suddenly. Regardless, I feel that I should punish you." Chuckling lightly, he began to massage John's bruised backside with his rough, fisherman's hands. The screaming began a second later, but that's another story...

The real story was the fact that a certain abomination was heading straight towards Bolero with a overpowering intent to kill, with two lifeless bodies dragged behind it in a tail wrap. Any soldier in it's path was either trampled or devoured; bones and all in a single chomp in a single swallow.

At that moment, Bolero got goosebumps all over his somewhat blubbery body in a way that made him chatter randomly with clicks and whistles like a dolphin. Then the room that Gregory was in self-destructed into a wildfire explosion as all the bubbles popped at once in which he heard mild groans and death threats coming from Gregory. Considering that the explosion occurred 5 minutes after that rooster guy started to scream, the merman didn't even want to know what those two were up to.

"**HEH...20 SECONDS TO GO**." He grinned despite the shuddering of ill intent, watching the wriggling glob of agitated water spheres amass and grow. "**OR WAS IT 35? I COULD NEVER REMEMBER**."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." A heavy growl was heard behind him, one that he didn't even sense. A thick sweatdrop appeared on his brow, feeling the heavy tension as the bubbles gathered into one and condensed with each passing second.

"**CRAP."** Was the last thing he was able to say before the tow truck-sized paw of destruction piledrived him straight into the freaking vault door with enough force to shatter a tank in half.

* * *

The Doctor stared at his watch for the 821st time during the long wait, impatient to get this trial over with. Some of the soldiers, his very elite that he worked tirelessly to improve mentally and physically, were talking amongst themselves and losing focus by putting away their guns due to the fatigue on their hands. Those were killed instantly by him blowing them apart with self-propelled swords from his repaired gloves which he reknitted to improve his performance.

"Only a minute to go." He gritted his teeth, hoping that his men had finally isolated the remaining navy pests wandering around aimlessly on his territory. He didn't bother to check up on Alto in that other 'dimension', time worked differently in that realm, so no matter what technique he would use, it was futile to keep up after a long period of time.

Still, he should think about having his men take the gunpowder barrels out of the Vault room since they were a safety hazard to his well-being. As long as Alto was stuck inside his giant hanky, he couldn't make more of them to make the barrels vanish into thin air.

Just in case, he checked his watch again, uncaring of how the other soldiers saw him as. As a pirate doctor with a stolen license, he could prescribe his own medicine without consequence. A few injections, a bunch of pills and maybe some illegal drugs and he'll get over this odd habit. 'I might have to get rid of the No Smoking rule as well, my lungs need to be destroyed after a year of staying off it. Sure, I'll get cancer but then I'll have Alto here force Gecko Moria to cure it since I heard that Warlord has a genius surgeon.' He thought, knowing that the captain of the Leviathan was a threat to the 7 Warlords of the Sea.

Coughing a bit to relieve the tension, he began walking towards the spasming white blanket with a brisk tap in each footstep. "Your time is just as about up-" Just then, he was caught off-sentence by the flaming vault door which burst off his specialized metal hinges and crashed hard into a bunch of bored soldiers who were either crushed to death or started to be burned alive through the 'cracks' of their fireproof armor.

"It's HIM again." The Doctor frowned, crossing his arms in a ticked-off fashion with gloves pointing out to each side for protection. 'Thought I told that lousy fisherman to keep him away awhile I was performing my task. I don't have time for this.'

"**GAH...I CAN'T BELIEVE THE CAPTAIN BROUGHT HER ON THE RESCUE MISSION**." Bolero mumbled, brushing himself off of the soot and melted metal. The crimson red claw marks were embedded into his tough chest, but he didn't seem to notice since the fire itself had cauterized it into battle scars.

Detecting the mass amount of soldiers armed with armor-piercing rounds awhile talking, he realized that all of them were completely ignoring him. And for good reason, as Cresendo lumbered in on all fours in full beast form. Her very presence was stifling to everyone save for the Doctor, since she smelt like she had been bathing in raw sewage (which was very likely). For even though she couldn't control the transformation, she knew enough to bend over and adapt for a small entryway, pushing aside the walls like they were cardboard or just chewing up the plaster for more room. Food was food after all.

The Doctor met her gaze of bloodlust and matched it with his own sinful glaze, the pentagram etched on his glasses gleamed a bit from retraction. What a glorious zoan beast the Navy kept to themselves! If she were to die in an accident, he would be provided with years of scientific discoveries that could benefit the new world and beyond, transforming all Zoans into natural killers without free will or individual thought.

She was quickly under seige by the soldiers, bellowing a huge warcry of starvation and chaos as she lumbered back to two feet to stand defiant against the shells that bounced off her furry hide. Her long black tail unraveled for combat purposes to reveal both Timekeeper and Jester who looked dazed and ragged from battling her without teamwork.

To recap that battle in a short summary: Jester continously ran around the room to fire off a special Rankyaku in the shape of triangles known as Prism Rankyakus which split into 9 seperate, smaller Rankyakus to bombard her in separate places. Frustrated, she leaped in just as he was about to make a geppou and hammered him hard with a double fist pound to the skull to send him crashing down.

Likewise, Timekeeper had better luck with her since he had more weaponry at his disposal. The silver, tin and gold spheres directed a stream of flames, electricity, and lethal projectiles in large quantities. Cresendo didn't seem to enjoy it that much since it bit hard into her rough skin and singed some of her fur. How annoying.

Getting to full height, she grabbed his prone form off the floor and attempted to munch on his skull. A second later, she spat him out since he tasted like plastic and some weird materials that were barely metal and other junk. That didn't stop her from hitting Timekeeper with Jester as the hammer, .

She also drooled heavily on both of them to envelop them in thick saliva to preserve the flavor. Since both of them were of a new variety and would try to stop her from killing off all the humans in the building, she'll have them later for dessert.

And now...after hours of wandering, she made it to the freaking Buffet Line. All those humans in armor, she'll maul them until there was nothing left, bones and all. Roaring a word of challenge, she loomed like a tower over the front group and snatched a few of them in both hands. For some reason, they tasted a bit like Bacon with relish as she chomped down despite the moaning and screaming.

The bullets were pestering her though, cutting into the open wounds Jester and Timekeeper made. Luckily no one them had Seastone, so she slapped the first wave with her over-sized hand to create a domino effect to knock them over. A familiar scent was in the area, not the merman who would barely pierce her flesh, but emitting from that odd hanky lying on the floor. Without even a 'Excuse Me', she bashed the Doctor aside with a full-on tackle before he could fire off a anchor or a wrecking ball. He flew into his troop's open arms to catch him, dazed but impressed by the sheer power she possessed.

But as soon as she got close enough, the hanky exploded into hundreds of pieces of white fabric startling her. Fifteen minutes was up, and Alto yawned after his somewhat relaxing nap inside the boundary less dimension. Strangely enough, he was in a ball of his own wire which surrounded him on all sides; his arms crossed so he could expand and constrict the wires so nothing could break in. Otherwise known as "Double Hand Twine Ball", it was his special defense when attacked on all sides since the projectiles and large objects would be shredded on contact. Unfortunately, it meant he had to stay in one place for a long time without moving his hands, otherwise it would collapse on itself.

Crescendo watched eagerly as her prey unweaved the strings around him with sleek and agile motions, his eyes closed since the lighting needed to get used to after being stuck in that bright room for what seemed like days. A new smell perked up her nose as she could sense something coming from the ventilation shafts.

The other guards could also hear it and mounted their guns at both her, Alto and the vents and coaxing the Doctor back onto his feet. It didn't matter who it was at this point, all intruders would be captured no matter what the body count. At least...that's what they thought before a grenade-sized red flare shot down to the floor and erupted into a thick red smokescreen that covered the area.

Crescendo coughed a bit, her sense of smell partially disrupted by the gassy fumes, which was good as a rope was thrown down and a grate was smashed wide open for three individuals to slide down inconsipiously amongst the group next to Alto.

"Psssst...captain. Got something for ya." Alto heard Prelude's voice whisper to him, as he was handed a gray box with carrots and mashed potatoes inside. After leaving with Requiem, who was currently using the red fog as a way to blast long arrows into a few soldiers abdomens and skulls, she came across George, who was carrying a spare navy bento from the mess hall. He also treated her with the antidote the Pink Warden carried and a spare supply of flares in exchange for a kiss. Instead, he got a broken nose and a warning never to hold something like that over her head.

Hoping that Prelude didn't cook the meal since everything she makes burns, Alto gulped and stuffed his face with the veggies, swallowing and gouging like his life depended on it. Prelude then ran at the nearest soldier who was aiming at her captain and punched him tith explosive force, sending him flying down rows of his comrades like a bowling ball through pins.

"...Eliminate..." Without a Log Pose or any opposing magnetic forces corrupting her, Requiem drew back on her long bow to execute one soldier at a time or plug up their guns with arrows to make them backfire. There was little time to set up normal wards, but she did set up a few suitras for the vault door in case DF users loyal to the Doctor would show up.

Requiem barely registered Crescendo coming up from behind and clapped her paws open to get some fresh air, uncovering her, the marine and Prelude's presence. Thinking briefly, she muttered a quick prayer and tossed a suitra in front of her comrade's giant claw, deflecting it momentarily with a weak barrier which looked like purple electricity.

Irritated that she couldn't shatter the defense, she turned her head towards her first target who was just about done with his mid-meal snack. All that was needed was a two-pronged attack on both sides with a clap, then he'll be the perfect meal she had in ages.

"Crescendo? Is that you?" Rubbing his eyes to clear up his current field of vision, he was breathed on by his Cabin Girl's smoky, foul breath as she came upon him at full height on two legs. "Yep. It's you, only you would be that stupid."

As if angered by that snide comment and ignoring the frightened looks of the soldiers, she screeched a hateful howl and brought down the heavy mini-van sized-length paws of death upon him with enough force to shatter him into paste.

"However..." Without stopping his matter of speech or looking up, he brought up his hand with fingers opened wide.

'Im...impossible!' The Doctor thought, stunned by such a display of strength occurred.

"Without knowledge, you cannot defeat your captain." Alto finished his sentence, completely unharmed and licking the remnants of the mashed potatoes off his face with his long tongue. "Maximum strength re-established." His eyes glittered and his grin grew wide for the thrill of combat again.

Crescendo looked a bit forlorn hanging up in the air like a umbrella, since he lifted her main body up by her paw like a bat and then swung her down in front like a hammer. The impact was like a bomb exploding to disable the first wave of soldiers who harmlessly littered her prone mass with tranquilizer darts (which bounced off her hairy hide). Others lost their footing from the heavy quake or dropped their guns awhile aiming.

In an almost cartoonish sort of way, he proceeded to demolish the area by pounding her body to the right and left and in front, using her to take the tranquilizer darts meant for him. Gradually, she began to lose consciousness as a result of his brutality. He didn't care, she could take the damage and recover from it rather quickly if he used her to defend him for the time being.

"Ah, hello Doctor!" Alto greeted his archfoe by swinging the heavy mass of muscle and fur down upon him, only for the guards to quickly pass him away and were crushed into the floor for their loyalty. Only then did Crescendo revert back to human form, so tired to even move or eat hanging low from his hand.

Turning to George in a sense of gratitude for his services, Alto offered Crescendo over to him and told him briefly to get the heck out of the room so he could do his job. The wounded marine saluted and fled out the hole in the wall just as the red smoke cleared up fully, but already 1/5th of the 1000 elite members were down and out thanks to Requiem's and Prelude's combination.

"Guess I was a bit rough." Alto said bluntly, slashing a tranquilizer aimed for his heinie. "Oi! Prelude!" he called out to his lieutenant commander who was busy punching one of the bigger, more burly guards until his jaw broke.

"What?" She yelled back, tossing the punk into a crowd and fired off four yellow flares to set them aflame.

"Where's Gladyr?!" Alto asked, splitting three guards down the middle aka cutting their armor as well as the weapon they were holding into pieces.

"I heard he's taking a different route out of the base." Prelude said, indifferent to the old geezer's health condition. "According to him (aka ), he managed to find a private Den Den Mushi after fighting a bunch of soldiers. Something about a squid attacking the ship or something, I didn't make it out with the static."

"He gets all the luck." Alto sweat dropped, swirling his strings to poke a few holes on the armor to dislocate the leg joints. Soldiers left and right fell over as he 'whipped' them lightly without cutting off the limbs themselves.

"...he dies tonight..." Was Requiem's response, sniping a pair of guards who were lining up mortar cannons. Iron particles gathered around her and formed into arrows for her bow to release.

"Anyway, Plan G for now until we get reinforcements. Bolero, how much juice can you use on the Doctor?" Alto said, as the merman was already being dog piled and blasted at despite his tendrils stinging randomly.

"**GOT ME. THIS ROOM ISN'T VERY MOIST**." Bolero chuckled, feeling the bullets smack his flesh like pebbles. One of them managed to destroy one of the spines, releasing a small stream of napalmic blood to consume the crowd for a short time. "**I'D SAY 3 MINUTES BEFORE I CAN GATHER ENOUGH MOISTURE FOR A FULL-OUT EXPLOSION**."

"You have 2. And aim it at the Hankies only, there's gunpowder barrels littered around the area." Alto warned him, now running straight towards the Doctor who was spreading both hands out in front.

"Pity that you have to rely on such weak friends." He smiled wide, foreknowing that despite his elite squadron's losses, the group was going to be captured either by blood loss, lack of ammunition and the fact that there was still 800 people ready to lay down their lives for him. "Last chance, be one of us and I'll spare them."

"I told you before, I don't work for anyone other than the Gorosei! So you can take your words and shove them down your throat!" Alto said, retorting seriously as he flash-bolted towards the Doctor with both hands raked out for speed clawing,

The Doctor sighed, knowing that he had no other choice, as he angled his hands upwards. "Your choice then, I can always bring you back to life later on. Astaire Shell!"

What happened next was the entire ceiling was overshadowed by a mass surge of handkerchiefs shooting out of the palms. Followed by a burst of nails that forced the hankies to cling to the surface plaster of the ceiling.

"And now! Cagney Finale!" Sweeping his hand down just as Alto was close enough, Upside Pianos weighing roughly more than 500 lbs fell down by the dozen onto a single spot in front of him.

"Double Hand Rake!" Alto yelled, curving the wires out to maximize the curve of the attack, completely unaware of the danger coming down from above.

"WATCH OUT, BOSS!" Bolero called out, but was quickly overtaken by 3 dozen soldiers who began to bind him with chains to restrict his movement.

SNIT!! WHAMMMMM!

* * *

Out in the open sea, the private boat that the Director owned was in wooden shambles. Wooden planks littered the ocean surface, one of which was held on to for dear life by the egg-shaped man who was sweating desperately.

"How could this happen?" He wondered to himself, since it happened so quickly. The large metal/glass container was blown apart and drifting away, half-floating up and down in the water and sank a few minutes later. His right arm was also floating away once that person ripped it off since 'it disgusted him'.

He plotted the course for escape weeks in advance, even counting in a Navy Fleet landing nearby the island. And once they were well-out of range of sight and cannonfire, he planned to get out of his camouflage blanket to activate the life-restoring tube.

What he didn't count on, however, was the Grand Line's unpredictable weather patterns as a giant thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere and tipped the boat over with a 30 foot tidal wave. The large tube was thrown into the sky the same time he went overboard and was hit by a stray lightning bolt. Without even a switch thrown, the two blood samples were inserted into the flesh. 2 seconds later, the very storm itself was gone into a pitch black sky and the boat was entirely blown apart.

He could see the guy even when he had his eyes closed, those steely red eyes that could see everything around him as a inferior threat. With those long bat-like 'wings', he looked like a fallen angel from heck ready to reclaim the living world as his prize.

"HoW lOnG hAvE i BeEn AsLeEp?" Was the only thing this, this monster asked, showing only his back to the Director. His voice was maddening to the ears, like cat nails and forks scratching on a chalkboard, and it felt like the Director's ears would bleed. It was hard to see the facial features since the sun was getting into his eyes or how tall he really was, but his blackened, twisted and corruption-filled aura covering his body was a sure sign that it was the real deal before him.

"A century, my Lord. We at SUPA-" Without warning, he no longer had a mouth to speak. To that man, it was a bumper sticker to rip off and hold in his hand. The Director looked surprised, even bewildered that that man would treat his savior in this manner.

"ShUt Up." Was his reply, as the Director looked on in terror as he could no longer breathe normally outside through his nose. His hands, they were turning green for some reason and bleeding from thin cuts. "YoU hAvE sErVeD yOuR pUrPoSe."

He wanted to gasp, to ask why he was being mistreated but he would clearly tell that this person was not someone who liked to chat. Now that he thought about it, those weren't 'wings' but his long, black ragged cloak reshaped to look like wings. His hair began to fall out a strand despite it being a wig, his cheeks were drawn inward and his eyes watered endlessly as the legendary person pointed at him sternly.

"AlL hUmAnS mUsT Be JuDgEd. ThE sEnTeNcE Is: ChArYbDiS." He said, raising into the pitch black sky and swirled his right pinky at the water. The Director, watching his own flesh recede to show his red muscle tissue and blood veins on his finger tips, was suddenly dragged off the wooden board.

He tried to scream or cry out, swimming hard against the strong current but it was a bit hard with his legs merged together like a fish tail. What he was caught in was a giant whirlpool with teeth aka a Pondsucker Sea King, one of the most nastiest beasts who hide in the Grand Line waiting to snare a boat or two. 'Damn you, Karma!!' He said in his head, watching as one of the most dangerous men in history fly off without even a sparing glance. He had bigger fish to fry, after all, he was a busy man with a world to conquer. "KeShKeShKeSh."

* * *

**Trolling**-A fisherman's way of pull and release, forcing the fish to take a set path to smash it's head against rocks and such.

**Blawfish toxin**-A seemingly lethal poison that is found in a small fish covered in brown warts. Kills two minutes after consumption, but the side effects involve the eater going into a unfit rage and beating up the first person he sees.

**Babel Tower Toss**- A upwards throw of a extremely heavy object, if it comes down, Alto would have done something else to prevent being flattened.


	27. Breaking open the Sky, Bolero's Rage!

Ch 27

SH: (walks in) Okay, before we get the ball rolling, I just want to say that it is theorized that since Bear King destroyed the key but the island didn't destroy itself, then there should be more than 1 Clockwork island. At least, that's what I believe. And the starfish is rather a Echinoderm, one that can make up to 50 long arms stretching for several yards. Also, some of you viewers who e-mailed me asked about the courses. So I'll let Prelude tell ya.

Prelude: (nods, sitting on a foot stool) Thanks, I guess. As you all are aware, the Leviathan is a ship designed for those who wish to become Warrant Officers or higher. Thus, part of the ship is made like a mobile school with dorms. The classes taken are mandatory for the different types of marines who sign up for them: Mathematics, algebra, trig, and even the advanced math courses prepare snipers who train in mortar warfare as well as cannons. Gym class, track and field and wresting sports help out the warrior types who rush in blindly with swords and rapiers, unlike the captain who teaches judo and jujutsu to a very small select group (he gives them 300 lb statues to push up and down and adds more weight each day). Geography and history classes deal with the layout of islands that the future marine recruits may be stationed at, as well as to teach them the past about the island and the inhabitants. Those in Health class study to be nurses or doctors, or work under Requiem as apprentices to drive out demons or pray for a good life. And let's not forgot about workshop classes, those are for those who plan to make ships one day and work under that bozo shipwright. Finally, there are the Life Skills department that focus on sewing, cooking, killing bugs and other tasks expected of crewmembers both male and female. No exceptions. And that's the main list of what classes we have on the Leviathan, see ya!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any OP OC author's work. To me, it is quite confusing how Boa Hancock can turn people into stone. I also support Margaret as well, but I hope she can clear up the misunderstandings with the other Amazons.

* * *

Ch 27

_"Throughout the world, the news of Atos being slain rang out in much celebration, but it's said that the body was never recovered. Alto, fearing the worst, surrendered his title after realizing that Atos erased his immune system and later died. But for those who lived through it, they knew that one day he will return to wreak his vengeance on the world once more..."_

Blood. The sky itself was a god-forsaken red color to Nocturne, who was leaning on the bow of the Neo Broadsword, a captured Navy Warship. It felt like hours or days when he last left the burning shores of Enies Lobby the Judical Island. He was seeing the scarlet clouds come from the burning buildings via the 3rd eye implanted on his forehead, but it only served as a desperate omen to him.

The Axe Heads, Death Root and Strawhat pirates had proven themselves worthy of combat later on, including their swordsmen. Yet...he couldn't help thinking that there was something going on behind the scenes. Even the marines stationed were more rowdy and charged in despite knowing that the pirates individual power was overwhelming.

Even now, he could 'see' a black trail of corruptive miasma pour out of the destroyed citadel in the form of a spire. His crewmembers mentioned to him in earlier talks that during the battle to secure the thousands of swords, they too felt a dark presence in those they fought, like they were forced to give it their all and more.

More black plumes of smoke burst out of the sea to form solid spires several dozen miles away from the Neo Broadsword, giving off an eradicative aura to spook the fish and Sea Kings. Of course, no one besides him could see them so it was decent enough for now.

"So this is the Great Darkness." He murmured, tapping the wooden railing in deep thought. "I thought I felt something was wrong when all those marines went up a few levels, screeching like banshees and carving up anything in their path including each other. The others are probably going to feel the effects of the strain later on, I have to take matters into my own hands to ensure their safety."

Still, he couldn't help but wonder why now of all times when he was collecting materials. He needed a new location, one that could finish the job and be ready for the threat that emerged. "Mello."

A pair of long rabbit ears poked out of the stairway, as he knew she was eavedropping. "Yes, sir?" She asked, shifting back to human form.

"Here." Producing a Eternal Log Pose from his pocket, he tossed it over into Mello's capable gloved hands. He 'took' it from one of the Navy Buildings which was in charge of intelligence gathering and mapping. "Set a course for this island. It's beyond the Red Line but I'll handle that part."

"Yes, Master Nocturne." Grinning slightly in amusement, she went below deck to plot the trip and make sure the food inventory wasn't compromised by Gus's stomach.

"Soon, we will meet, Yonkou. And my ancestors will be avenged." He sneered, watching the clouds turn gray, releasing blue lightning throughout the sky for a few hours.

"Just be careful, Captain. Or I'll be the one putting your ashes into the Ocean below..."

Meanwhile...

...

...

"...he's dead..."

"Again?" Prelude shouted angrily, watching Requiem place her hand on his forehead to test for a pulse.

This occurred a minute after the two exchanged blows, since Alto never saw that piece of anchor laying on the floor, he tripped on his feet. Then the pianos, wide as they were tall, fell down on his legs and mid-torso. A small 'ghost' of him fell out of the mouth by the sudden impact of a cracked spine. The Doctor, on the other hand, was sliced in half through the torso and fell over before he realized what happened.

"Requiem, barricade this place! Don't let him get out before we empty the room! Bolero, I know it's good to see ya again but we have to keep them from taking the captain. Otherwise Requiem wouldn't be able to stuff him back in." Prelude said, blasting at a bazooka soldier who seemed to use his weapon as a shield.

**"RIGHT, SEMPAI! OW!"** Bolero said, before going hit by a rock she threw.

"I ain't your Sempai so don't give me weird labels! Just take them down before we're overrun!" Prelude said, conserving her ammo so she could pound one of the over-sized men flat on his back so she could use him as a spring board. She jumped a few feet in the air to punch two more people coming at her, clotheslined them by the neck, spun in place, and throw them to the ground as well.

Pulling ofuda and sutra scrolls out of her garment pants, Requiem began to put on a fiercesome white battle aura around her body, ignoring everything around her. "...Commencing Revitalization..." Her eyes rolled up to the back of her head and she began to chant a long string of ancient words in a unknown tongue.

Those who got close enough to witness the white flames that covered the scrolls without burning them were rammed by Bolero's gleeful ramming and poisoning of tendrils. During this period, Requiem's mind would be completely empty of thought and thus her self-defense of her devil fruit would be inactive.  
Hence, it was necessary to clear out the area of any assassin with a pistol or rifle.

**"PICKING ON A WOMAN, YOU GUYS ARE GOTTA PAY!"** Bolero shouted, the spines on his arm extending outward and bending halfway to form sharp fin blades. They then encircled in front of his arm, which he used to split apart a bewildered soldier's gun in half, then sliced him down the middle but not enough for it to be fatal. **"DRAGON CLAW!"**

"Now that's the Bolero I know and enjoy shooting at!" Prelude laughed, busting in a few ribcages with a standing point double fist lunge at point blank range.

**"EXCEPT THE LITTLE GIRL OVER THERE, YOU CAN HAVE FUN WITH HER ALL YOU WANT."** Bolero guffawed, only to get shot twice in the left side. It didn't burn too much but it did sting, making him grimace. **"OKAY, I DESERVED THAT. BUT I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO DRINK MORE MILK!"**

"Alto kept sucking it out of the bottle before I had the chance." Prelude said rudely, reholstering the flare guns now that she got her revenge on the stupid merman. "I swear, he has no manners at all when he clears out a refrigerator."

**"HA! AS EXPECTED OF THE CAPTAIN!"** A backside attempt was thwarted as the tendrils ran his opponents through, armor and all, causing them to spasm and spew foam from their mouths.

"..." Those idiots were noisy, yet Requiem calmly kept at her pace to seal off the room by placing the ofuda scrolls in a tight-knit circle around her feet, and tossed the suitras into the air randomly before firing off arrow after arrow to stick them to the 4 walls (and impale a few elite through the head or chest).

That done, although caused quite a ramble of several hundred people closing in around them, she commenced her specialized chant. Her voice itself was like listening to a choir of angels made of a few words in-between pauses, making a few Genova Corp members to listen in a distracted fashion.

Bolero laughed wildly, bashing in heads by knocking the soldiers together, as Prelude used him as a personal shield against the heavy bullet barrage. Despite the body armor she wore, it would be stripped since the ammo these guys packed could destroy it in a few rounds.

"Oi! Bolero, you just about ready?" She said, kicking one of the powderkegs hard into the group, making them fall flat by the sudden impact of the heavy barrel.

**"JUST ABOUT!"** He heaved, sucking in more and more moisture until he looked bloated, swing one of his arm blades to smack aside five soldiers in a circular motion with the flat side.

"Well, don't just stand there! The captain might need medical attention after Requiem revives him." She said, smashing another powderkeg on one of the guard's skulls, and then shoved him hard into the advancing masses.

**"FINE! FINE! GEEZ, WE BARELY SEE EACH OTHER IN MONTHS AND YOU'RE STILL RUDE!"** He said, finishing up the suction and opened his jaw a few inches wide. **"B-O-O-M BUBBLE RINGS!!"** He spewed out five different rings of multi-colored bubbles at the soldiers, forcing them to take cover behind the destroyed furniture and discarded junk.

Prelude smirked as the bubbles popped, becoming truck-sized balls of a uncontained inferno that raged the area, melting down both metal and flesh from the combined attack of high temperature. The soldiers screamed in agony, trying to take off the battle gear that was slowly corrupting and searing the skin. Chunks of the walls broke off, as well as tore off the ballasts and ladders.

Requiem didn't seem to notice any of the rubble coming down on her, so Prelude took it upon herself to shatter the concrete and pieces of scrap metal with punches. Punches that were a bit sore since she didn't have time to recover after attacking Dreamweaver full-out. So in a way, she was running low on stamina but the protection of her nakama and her lousy captain came first before her own life.

**"HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT? HUH?"** Bolero boasted, only to get stabbed in the flank by one of the slowly dying soldiers carrying a broadsword. The sword turned to mush once the blood got on it, but Bolero felt a bit annoyed that they were capitalizing on his main weakness since sharp things could pierce his hide. He completely torched the jerk with a small red bubble at close range, but the wound still hurt like heck. Any more of those could seriously leave him half-dead, and his self-healing abilitie would take days to refill that amount of blood.

**'ANNOYING BUGGERS...'** He thought, now targeting the pieces of metal girders and firing off small bubbles to erase them before Requiem could be harmed. Now the army was less than half it's original size, but that meant they were more crafty and flexible in mounting a assault. Multiple gatling guns pelted him from different angles, the bullets ticking him off a bit. **"PRELUDE, SEE IF YOU CAN PICK THEM OFF! THE SHELLS WILL END UP HITTING REQUIEM AT THIS RATE."**

"Roger that." Clipping a new magazine into each flare revolver, Prelude strafed around Bolero and took off at a quick pace, no longer hindered by the poison. Two hiding on the stairwell, 6 behind the piano pile, and over 30 behind piles of junk reloading.

Invisible, transparent threads of Requiem's own spirit flowed out of her chest as she gave off a sharp cry of anguish and self-loathing, sending them straight at the wavering soul that bounced off the walls in confusion. The red barrier was holding, but only if the ofudas were intact. Alto, on the other hand, was blind as a bat in soul form and his 'soul tail' was slowly lured into her trap. All she needed was a few more minutes to bind a suitable web to capture him in.

"Eat this, freakish jerks!" Prelude strafed, leaping over a pile of rubble and spun in mid-air horizontally to the left to take aim. Two of them were taken down, awhile the rest fired wildly without coordination on their part. "Lock-On!!" The spread of the bullet's speed and trajectory was analyzed in her mind, which she used her flare guns to 'push' herself away in a zig-zag motion downwards, feet-first to smash one of their heads into the ground. Then, without stopping, she rushed the nearest one, disarmed him with a bone-crunching punch to the shoulder and knocked him out with a fist to the throat.

That punch ended up taking out a row of five soldiers running towards her, which she used their fallen bodies as a human bridge. Taking careful aim, she took out a ducker-type of sniper by timing the rate of him bobbing up to shoot and dropping down to reload. 'Can't let them hit me, one bullet means unneeded fanservice!'

Bolero had to back away a bit from the advancing horde of soldiers armed with axes and specialized taser swords, sucking in a bit of moisture each time. Then let it out in a wide sweep of mini-bubbles the size of softballs, dealing minor holes that greatly damaged the flesh and nerve endings, as well as melted down the weaponry into lead puddles.

Still, he could tell that he and Prelude were losing ground inch by inch despite his efforts to supress them. Not that she needed to know this, since she was currently beating up about 15 large, burly-muscular men with rapid kicks that shattered the helmets and numerous hidden punches to send them into the slightly burnt walls halfway. **'HINA WARRIORS ARE SCARY**...' He thought, recalling the many times she sent Alto flying off the ship because he was in the makeshift hot springs unaware of her presence. Then mistaking her for a guy, now that was a painful memory.

Loop by loop, the spirit strings finally made contact with the base of the spirit tail. Alto's soul vainly struggled, trying to break free so he could act as a blind wandering spirit to forever haunt the area like the other roaming spirits of the soldiers Prelude and Bolero took out. They may be 'evil' but the Genova Corps were just a contract group of soldiers, so she felt that it was okay to 'pity' them in a cold way.

She began to reel him in, matching his resistance with her own non-determination so the threads coiled around the main body and squeezed hard on the ectoplasmic mass. Bending down, she continued to chant with her eyes closed on top of Alto, clasping her hands in a ritualistic prayer. His body began to glow a dim white as the soul slowly approached, opening back the gateway so he could live once more.

"So that's how it's done, eh?" The Doctor's deranged voice said behind her just as the soul was halfway in Alto's partially naked body. She had no time to react from the brutal hit to her back with a 2 foot long metal pipe. "Fool...did you honestly believe cutting a 'superhuman' type could work?"

"How did he?" Prelude said in shock, turning around to see the Doctor no worse for wear, then turned back to stop a large sword with a twin hand sword capture move and reflexive twist to snap his wrists.

Placing the pipe back into his refitted glove, he smirked to reveal a spool with white thread and a knitting needle. "Sure, getting sliced in half stung, but I simply used my power to make my vital organs and ribs disappear in that other dimension, then waited for someone to patch up him. No sense in letting my soon-to-be second in command be killed in an accident."

"..." How annoying. Requiem didn't suffer any broken bones, but was lying face first on the ground, slumped over like a snail. Narrowing her eyes behind her, she could see that Alto hadn't fully resurrected yet. And from experience, a full transfer meant about 1 half-hour before the spirit and body co-existed.

True to form, she could see the five cuts that Alto dealt which would have cut a normal DF user to sliced salami, which were sewn in rather hastily with thread "X" marks to keep him together. He probably would have a seam mistress sew the lines later on for a complete recovery, but annihilating the Navy was his immediate goal.

Many of his elite saw the cunning, bloodthirsty grin unraveling on his faceas he spread his arms out wide and opened his palms. "No! No! Please, Doctor! Don't do it!"

"Shut up! You think I actually care about what you think? Know your place beneath the dead skin flakes in my toes!" With that, two large Dynamite-type Rocket Launchers appeared in his hands in a flash, loaded with enough firepower to blow away a hillside.

It was like a stream of mini-explosions passed by Prelude as she looked on, watching as the group of soldiers simply blew apart by the Doctor's bad aim. She knew that dynamite launchers weren't usually equipped with sniper sights, but it looked like he wasn't used to handling such complex weaponry without prior training.

Combing her hair back into place with her hands since the back draft of hot air moved it around, she smirked as she loaded in a new magazine. The Elite Corps were too busy trying to avoid being blown to pieces by the Doctor's trigger-happy weapon. Judging the miniature ammo packs attacked to it, he could last for a few hours without reloading.

'And me without a sawblade. Oh well, I better take him down so Requiem can get on with it.' She thought, running straight at the Doctor who had his back turned to her at the moment. His sole aim was at Bolero who was busy tossing the flimsy soldiers out of the way so they wouldn't be casualties, ignoring the flames and intense heat that the dynamite struck him with, but the impact of each was painful.

Sidestepping a sudden bullet barrage from the right side, she twirled to dodge and jumped the rest of the way with her arm pulled back behind her. 'Gotta do this fast before he notices me. And be quiet as well.' With the force of a small car going 40 mph into a stop sign, she drove the heavy punch hard into his backside.

But instead of the gratifying crack of a spine breaking, it felt more like she hit a towel. Mainly because he was like a sack of flesh made like a handkerchief, which pushed her back with equal recoil. She skidded across the floor, stunned that that weak looking guy could take a hit so easily without flinching or coughing up blood. He dropped his dynamite launchers though, since those were too heavy to carry for him in that form.

Requiem was already getting back up, continuing the chant to complete the process of closing the gateway of the physical body to seal Alto's soul.

**"PRELUDE, LET ME HANDLE HIM. AS LONG AS HE'S IN THAT FORM, PHYSICAL BLOWS DON'T WORK ON HIM!" **Bolero said, eradicating another platoon of soldiers by stinging them with rapid lashes of his tendrils. **"YOU FOCUS ON THESE ANNOYING PESTS!"**

"Fine..." She rubbed her sore cheek, knowing that Bolero was one of the toughest elemental types in the Navy. "Just don't kill him or we lose 30 percent of the bounty."

**"CAN'T PROMISE MUCH, THIS BASTARD PUT ME UNDER AND DID ALL SORTS OF WEIRD EXPERIMENTS ON MY BODY. NOW, IT'S PAYBACK TIME."** Punching his fist into open palm to make his point, he rushed straight at the Doctor.

"Can't have that. Hanky Hanky Spew!" Pulling his tongue, the Doctor pulled out a 'rope' of intertied hankies like a magican act, and then snapped it hard. "Hanky Hanky Geyser!!" A powerful blast of the green slime Alto encountered inside the ROOM flowed out at the end like a river, just as Bolero gathered more and more juice to fire off bubbles to counter it. The Clinic shuddered from the heavy explosion that came afterwards, as some of the pillars in the basement broke apart as a side effect.

Outside...

"We need more medics on the fourth barricade! 13 through 34 squad, falter back for a cannonball sweep!" The commander in charge bellowed, his voice carrying out his brazen orders despite the screaming and waves crashing into the shoreline.

"Sub-Lieutenant! Medics in the north sector have been overrun by at least 67 Starplanters! We need a mortar crew to carry out a burning land field plan. Also, the Torch Squadron are running low on oil!" One of the numerous scouts called up to him via rowboat on the portside, then rowed back to teh shore.

"Blast it!" He cursed, slamming both hands on the railing which his increased strength caused the Leviathan to 'tip' backwards for a few seconds and then straightened out. Many of the crew both on deck and below stared angrily at him since they were either knocked over or fell flat by the sudden tilt without warning. "Sorry about that. Anyway, you heard him. Where are the supply crews?"

"They are currently handling the refugee camps that the main force is settled on. I already put in a call to have some Oil barrels sent over." Murph, one of Alto's top advisors said calmly. He was a tall, thin man in a purple blazer version of a Marine sub-commander uniform, with a long neck and a hawk-like nose.

"Sub-Lieutenant! We just got word from the Crow's Nest! A flood of people are coming out of the Cavern's mouth with Lieutenant Gladyr in the lead!" A rookie messenger Seaman said, running past him to deliver a pair of binoculars and a coded message.

"Odd, just Gladyr?" The Sub-Lieutenant said, taking the binoculars to scan the area, rolling the middle part to amplify the view. And true to the messenger's word, the missing townsfolk as well as hundreds of normal civilians the doctor had captured over the years were running in all directions away from the cave. Some were in wheelchairs, others strapped to rolling beds and many others were using crutches to defend themselves against the invading horde giving chase behind and in front of them.

Naturally, they were rather average targets for the amassing BioxSponges which turned to face them for a light meal. Marines took this as a advantage to blind the ugly lamprey-like beasts with timed paintball shots to the eyes before they could scurry and devour them. Gladyr smashed any BioxSponge that got in his way with a powerful paralyzation punch, ripping a gaping hole right through them.

Once he was close enough to the shoreline, knowing that the marine forces would handle the nasty worms, he unraveled his cast arm. He could plainly see a troupe of BioxSponges chasing after him tunneling underground and converting it into pinkish coral, so he had to make this count. Combining the rolls together, he drew back his pitching arm and let the cast fly. "Doctorate Grapple!"

The cast bandages arced out over a fair distance before twirling along one of the lower mast rungs and cemented a few seconds later. Gladyr grinned at this, glad that he managed to pack the extra strength brand for this accomplishment. "Doctorate Bounce!" Problem was, there was no way to brake the bungee-like wrapping. Which sorta explained why the ship shook from a heavy impact once the old Doctor embedded a 5 inch imprint of his body on the main wooden mast, then fell backwards into a 20 foot drop into the poop deck upon a unsuspecting seaman carrying a new load of gunpowder.

"I'm okay!" He said as at least two dozen seamen rushed over to help him out, even though he had wooden splinters in his arms and legs and broke a rib or two from the impact. The unlucky marine was shipped off to the med lab for quick recovery since Gladyr bonked him hard on the noggin with his steel-like humpback. "Somebody fetch my cane, I need to speak to the current commanding officer!"

"That would be me. The other officers are currently on the island, awhile I work on the strategic platform against these odd creatures." The sub-lieutenant said, jumping down from the railing to greet his superior.

"Hmmph, strategy. These things aren't exactly human, you know. Just throw a match in their jaws and they'll run away like whimpering dogs with their tail caught between their legs." Gladyr snorted, grabbing a wooden cane that one of the seamen passed over to him and shifted his weight over to his good leg so he wouldn't tip over.

"If you say so, we're being short on hands anyway. Not to mention without Prelude, we can't synchronize the cannons onto a single target." The sub-lieutenant said plainly, looking over the war-torn battlefield with a frown. Hopefully once Gladyr felt up to it, he could begin to help the injured troops lying about since many had lost limbs or were infected with acidic poison from the fangs.

"So, what's the situation?" Gladyr asked, reeling in the cast bandages around his arm should he need them with his other arm. "The captain should be coming out shortly, so don't worry about that detail."

"Yes, of course." The sub-lieutenant saluted and sucked in his chest, "4 hours after you went inside, the cave entrance opened up and those worm-like creatures with starfish clinging to their hides. We set up steel barricades and built small pillboxes, but they keep multiplying despite our efforts to destroy them with mortars and cannonballs."

"And that long-legged monster?" He pointed at the Queen Echinoquill that was effortlessly battering away the mortar guns and chain gun mounts, spewing tons of Starplanters all over the area to convert it into coral to expand territory.

"I would say it's the mother of these things. So far, it has shrugged off both cannonballs and flamethrowers and has been staying a fair distance away from the ship, as if it's bound by that mass of reef." The sub-lieutenant said, glazing down at the hunchback. "Your orders, sir?"

Gladyr narrowed his eyebrowless eyes in deep thought before answering, knowing that it may take the captain another hour or two to get out of that fortress. "Commence the procedure of the Main Ouroboros weapon and lock-on to that creature."

"Sir?" He was taken back in shock at what his superior was asking of him, knowing full well that that weapon was currently offline due to cutbacks and budget restraints. To think that the situation required that weapon showed that they were running low on time.

"Yes, yes, whatever pirate bounty we have, I'll fill in what we owe. 200 million for one shot seems a bit high, but it's the Gorosei's decision to put such a price." Gladyr mumbled, ticked off that they may have to lose one fourth of the total bounty.

"Understood, sir." The sub-lieutenant saluted and produced a Den Den Mushi from his pocket, speaking firmly into the receiver. "Attention, Marine Engine Room and Main Control Room! Lieutenant Gladyr has returned with most of the hostages safely returned to the village. However, as you can see through the windows, that thing is getting bigger and more armored with each passing minute. With that, he authorized by word of the Captain to issue the **O.S.C.** immediately."

Down below, Gladyr could hear audio rumbling of rumors and accusations, since deployment of the O.S.C. was a big deal. Feet trampled the stairwells and men went down the 'fire poles' to gain some distance, since parts of the ship were already 'detaching' once a trio of specialist engineers inserted three kinds of keys into a entry lock. Not that the pieces of ship fell off, the Leviathan was well-known to have many compartments which could expand by gears, motors and various parts of metal hinges.

After all, out of the Navy Ships that the World Government had, this was a specialized **Grappler Model**, a experimental vassel that is divided into two parts, the area in which the crew lives in and the empty area where the O.S.C. and various weaponry are stored. Sadly, it was not something that could be replicated easily since the designer shipwright who made it died of a heart attack several years ago and no shipwright had been able to make it since.

Like two gates, the top bow of the ship split vertically the same time over 8 different sized anchors dropped down to weigh for recoil. The bottom was unaffected though, since it had to keep the Leviathan afloat. Dozens of battle-hardened men in the engine room turned to the large turn cranks next to them, twisting and turning the pulleys so the thick ropes would be loosened and 'push' the weapon into position.

"There's only one way to destroy something with a body like that, and that's to make sure nothing is left of it to regenerate." Gladyr sighed, watching as several hoses the width of greyhound buses dropped down into the saltwater. Inside, crewmembers were turning cranks on complex wooden machinery as water slowly was being sucked up gallon by gallon through the pipes and into the main water supply storage container.

A few of them lit up the furnace underneath to heat up the water to a scolding boiling point, and several were getting the long, 40-foot-long tube cannon into place in front of the massive heated container, wielding it around the donkey-sized hole to firmly connect it with blowtorches.

"This is Engine Room Leader, we are go for launch."

"Boiler Room Leader, all preparations are go, bubbles are critical."

"Tactical Ops Leader, coordinates are set and locked on."

"Grappler Division Leader, all systems go for launch!"

The ship shuddered a bit as two Volkswagen-sized 'claws' made out of seastone and tungsten reinforced steel below the hull were immediately fired out of the water like torpedos into the air, followed by thick chains. The Queen Echinoquill took no notice until the claws went past, and the ship turned starboard to shift them around the legs, spiraling the heavy seastone chains round and round until the two claws intersected and connected to lock the creature in place.

The Leviathan 'moaned' as it was forcibly pulled, causing a few planks to break and knocked some of the crewmembers overboard the railing. Gladyr and the sub-lieutentant stod their ground despite the violent thrashing as seamen began to stabilize the rudder and mast. The sails were locked down as a safety precaution as well, since the wind could pick up at anytime.

"Now, it begins." Gladyr smirked, knowing that Gandros himself would be proud if he knew his own invention was finalized by the crew's shipwright. Modeled like a teapot, only a hundred thousand times more deadly.

"Fire now!!" The sub lieutenant yelled in his Den Den Mushi to all personnel running the cannon.

It was enormous to say in summary, a jet of scorching hot water that fired out of the tube straight on at the Queen Echinoquill. Or to be more precise in a more common view, it was like a rubber hose with your thumb on at full water pressure on top of a anthill. Only giant-sized. And as everyone who does that knows, the crater resulting from that would be deep.

So it wasn't a surprise that not only was the demonic starfish knocked over, it was constantly forced into the coral floor, battering away and cauterizing it with enough steam and heat to prevent regeneration. Those caught in the surge instantly were killed, though luckily human casualties were minor due to the evacuation. Starplanters and BioxSponges that circled to protect the mother were submerged and flattened heavily to paper density before combusting entirely in a gruesome fate.

Houses and small buildings were reduced to rubble as well, then pieces and bits of rubble, and then finally one with the earth once more. The Queen screeched out in fury, the tentacles being battered full of melted holes awhile attempting to repair itself. Even the coral land around it was foaming white as fresh soil was forced back up to the surface.

'Is it any wonder why it costs so much for one stinking shot? We could take out Whitebeard if not for that weapon of his.' Gladyr thought, watching the Queen's last moments as the layers upon layers of protective coverings blew off on impact via binoculars. Some of the BioxSponges began to corrode and turn a chalky white color, feeling the strain of their mother slowly dying, and were quickly taken down by the Flamethrower Squadrons who just arrived.

It was then that the Queen gave one ear-splitting shriek that caused the very sky to part and fell silent as the last traces were eradicated off the face of the planet.

"We did it!!" Gladyr and the Sub-Commander exchanged high-fives, turned to not meet each other's eyes out of embarrassment, coughed, and smiled gleefully knowing that they were going to get promoted. Maybe.

And then...the giant earthquake happened out of the blue just as the crew was ready to turn off the water pressure. Something had gone terribly wrong.

Inside the Clinic...

"W-what's going on?" Prelude stammered, feeling the ground beneath her rattled as some of the soldiers rushing at her with machine guns lost their footing. She, on the other hand, got into a braced position with both feet distanced at acute angles to absorb the tremors and unleashed a swarm of flares to blast her foes awhile they were off-guard.

The Doctor once again turned hanky wise to 'fold' in part of his body from a tendril lash, then countered with a chained flail mace to the chest, causing Bolero to grimace since the sharp points stabbed his skin.** "SEARCH ME."** He shrugged, wiping some of the napalmic blood off his chest to toss at the Doctor, who jumped skillfully to 'vanish' and reappear with two large hedgeclippers made to slice apart tree trunks.

'The reef roof must've collapsed in some areas...but that hasn't happened in ages.' The Doctor thought, swiping and rapidly stabbing Bolero. The merman shifted the tendrils on his left arm into a makeshift shield, gritting his teeth to ignore the pain as the tendrils on his back extended and arced out like lances to skewer the hanky man.

Those were repelled by the steel shield that the Doctor produced, and in his other hand were several daggers which he tossed head-on at Bolero's skull. The daggers were melted into lumps of iron as Bolero spewed out a small blue bubble to consume them and burst, driving the Doctor back hard into a crowd of his soldiers.

**"THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! B-O-O-M BUBBLE STREAM!"** Reeling back his head to draw moisture and puffing out his cheeks, he spat forward to ignite a trail of red and blue bubbles at the crowd which were firing away at them. Most of the bubbles that did pop were 'duds' or 'decoys', since they weren't made of the same fluid, but those that did exploded in a blazing fireball that cremated over 20 or so soldiers.

Prelude was one of those knocked around by the detonation, but she turned it into a plus by using the momentum to kick one of the bulkish soldiers high into the air, then fired 2, no 3 shots into his backside to break his armor. "Careful, Bolero! This room isn't very stable for explosions!"

"**HMMPH, AS LONG AS I GET OUT OF THIS PLACE AND INTO THE SEA, I WILL MAKE MY EXIT WITH A BANG**!" Bolero laughed, watching as the Doctor used his own men as meat shields so he can pull more large hankies out.

"We'll see about that." The Doctor exclaimed, knowing that very soon, the coral reef dome would be broken down exposing the clinic to the outside world. He had to pull out all the stops if it meant using his ultimate technique or Alto would be out of his grasp.

"Tell me, Bolero, is it? How many children and adults a year have runny noses?" He said, his eyes gleaming with chaos as he held both sheets in front of him, merging them in the center with his gloves so they wouldn't fold over halfway.

"**BEATS ME. IF A KID HAS A COLD, HE SHOULD JUST WIPE IT ON HIS SHORTS."** Bolero growled, throwing off some of the soldiers who tackled him from behind to stab him.

Prelude, hearing this, made a face of disgust. "Ewww...gross, Bolero. If anything, you know that you'll just get sick later." She then went on to clearing the area to protect Requiem so she could complete the ritual.

"Tut, tut, tut..." The Doctor smiled, wagging a finger. "I would have to say at least half of the planet is sneezing up a storm both in the fall and winter islands, as well as those who caught the flu or cold. Millions perhaps. And all of them are using handkerchiefs. In other words...**Hanky Hanky Booger Stream**!!"

"OOOOF!!" It was if Bolero was run over by a King Bull at medium size, as a thick plume of green ooze shot out of both palms and merged, striking him hard in the chest.

"Year after year, the mucus builds up over time and I sometimes use it to drench entire villages to cut down on it. This is the fist time I will use it on a single person, be honored to be the first to be covered before it hardens." The doctor chuckled, continuing to push Bolero back with the continuous attack as the merman growled in annoyance. "Hanky Hanky Mucus Allergy!!" The power of the plume doubled in size and strength, just as Bolero used the moisture inside to suck in and puff his cheeks.

"B-O-O-M BUBBLE STREAM!!" With that, the Doctor and Bolero were now fighting on a somewhat equal level as the two attacks collided and began to push back and forth. Each time a bubble popped, a mini-explosion pushed the mucus back, but the mucus kept flowing like a unending river.

"You can't win. Even now, you need to talk to see me, but that would mean closing the stream." The Doctor mocked him, using his false degrees in psychology to force him to cancel out the attack.

'HUH?' Bolero thought blankly, not even bothering to make a comeback remark. Some of the bubbles came loose, floating around aimlessly and bursting to kill off some of the guards who were taking aim at Bolero's skull.

"Keep it up, Bolero! Don't let up the pressure!" Prelude said, snapping one of teh guard's thick necks with a reverse scissors kick and handstand, tossing her victim with a rolling leg throw to knock out a batch of reinforcements coming through the door. She then set them alight with flares to blockade the doorway, laughing wickedly all the way.

'EASY FOR YOU TO SAY, THESE BULLETS STING.' Bolero thought, unraveling some of his tendrils so they could impale the floor before taking the first step forward, pushing the bubbles a inch or two.

Undeterred, the Doctor increased the flow to keep Bolero from overwhelming him, but the stubborn merman eagerly stepped another foot forward. "What is with you? Don't you understand that with the captain as he is, he could never be able to take on Devil Fruit users like myself. Why do you follow him then?"

"It's because he trusted us to take up the lead if he falls, mac. He may seem weak without a DF, but he is the only one who has a record of capturing pirates no matter what powers they have." Prelude answered for Bolero, delivering a rapid shadow kick flurry and then jump-flipped backwards so two soldiers ended up crashing into each other.

Bolero nodded in agreement, making the Doctor slightly nervous since he was quickly losing ground. At least, that was until Bolero's movements got a bit stiffer. The gooey snot that covered him was starting to harden from the air temperature, making it difficult to move properly. 'CRUD!!'

"**Hanky Hanky Snot-4-U HARDEN**!" The Doctor was now hysterical with mad laughter, causing Bolero to vein pop a few times out of anger. "I can't believe a moron like you just fell for the most basic of traps! And in the same place too!"

"Don't listen, Bolero! He wants you to lose focus and talk, just keep spraying and I'll support you once the crowd thins out." Prelude said, firing off a round to Bolero's backside, dealing a small crack to the solidifying goo.

"...**Gabriel Bow: Tempest**..." A storm of iron arrows sweeped from above, as Requiem accurately drove them hard through the body armor. It had taken a bit more effort than what was needed to seal the physical gates, which explained her unnatural deep breathing. She could hear the captain's heart beat pulse slowly, very shortly he'll return to active duty. Gladyr may have to fix his spine though.

'TCH...' Bolero grumbled in thought, feeling the bitter sting of the arrows piercing his flesh. Apparently she was not at her best when aiming, so he was willing to forgive her this time.

"Stay back!!" The Doctor stopped laughing when more cracks formed, Bolero forcing his tendrils to repeatedly sting himself for easier movement. With his men dropping like lemmings, he was starting to have second thoughts about the whole taking over the world thing. "Don't even get close, you disgusting cur!"

"You're the one who's picking his nose." Prelude said, giving the jerk a well-deserved raspberry. The Doctor's face boiled red with rage, as the purge become a flood of boogers as he opened the hanky completely open.

"DIE, DIE, DIE! All of you pathetic humans die so I can take your organs and blood types! Hanky Hanky Booger Blast!! "

"**NOT TODAY, PAL**!" Bolero spoke up , now that the standoff had escalated, and gathered the remainder of the moisture in his mouth for gargling. "**MY JUSTICE IS HELLFIRE, FOR WHEN INVOKED BY PEOPLE WHO HURT ME, I WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER A THOUSAND DIFFERENT KINDS OF HELL! NITRO B-O-O-M BUBBLE**!" With that, he blew a bubble. One single, tiny bubble that looked like it could die at any time from the atmosphere.

"Let's get out of here!" Prelude said to Requiem, running for the torn-up exit Cresendo made awhile dragging her captain along the ground. She stepped lightly on a few groaning soldier's chests, firing on any stranglers looking to take her or Requiem out.

"Ridiculous! What can one bubble do to my attack! You may be capable in the water, but this attack will freeze you into a permanent statue in my gallery!" The Doctor said, adding a pitchfork into the mix since the wave of ooze was coming down at a slow rate. It stabbed the merman in the side, making him a bit uncomfortable since he was in a lot of pain at the moment.

"**BEFORE YOU LAUGH...TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT YOUR SURROUNDINGS**." Bolero said calmly, twitching a bit awhile pulling out the pitchfork.

"...Eh?" Just like that, the Doctor could see another bubble in front of the first, then another and another, a set line of at least 3 dozen bubbles going 'around' the big wave like a half loop. And finally, leading up to him as he could clearly see a large assortment of bubbles surrounding him on all sides in the shape of a cannonball. "How did-?"

"**YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH TRICKS UP HIS SLEEVE, EVEN THOUGH I DON'T WEAR A SHIRT**." Bolero smirked, watching as his nakama made their way out of the makeshift exit. Which he admitted was good since the blast radius would reduce anyone to cinders. The river of goo hit him right on, bashing in his stomach and forcing him back a few yards before he managed to gut the floor again for balancing with his feet.

"What kind of screwed up logic is that?" The Doctor slapped the air, trying to brush away some of the bubbles. None of them went off. "You'll only end up killing yourself!"

"**I DON'T EXPECT SOME HUMAN TO UNDERSTAND MY MENTAL STATE. AFTER LOCKING ME IN THAT ROOM, FEEDING ME GRUEL, TORTURING ME WITH NIGHTMARES OF KILLING MY NAKAMA, KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE, HAVING YOUR MEN MOCK ME AND SO ON, I CAN'T TAKE BEING IN THIS PLACE ANYMORE**!" Bolero roared, angry as heck as the first bubble broke apart to make a mini-explosion. The second one then detonated right after.

"No, no, no!" The Doctor yelled, taken back that this lower lifeform had him cornered. Turning to the left, he began to run as fast as he could towards the shattered vault door in hopes that he could escape. Turning back to normal so he could avoid getting burnt, he watched as his men were fleeing out the backway in order to chase after the out cold captain and his crew.

"**NOT VERY BECOMING OF THE SUPERHUMAN RACE, MAC. DRAGON CLAW**!" Bolero said, extending the tendrils on his arm to smash the Doctor with a clothesline maneuver to send him flying back into the fray. With him coming straight down on him with a jump tackle with enough terminal velocity to squash him like a flapjack pancake. "**AND IGNITION**!"

That was the cue as the 'bubble fuse' ran out, and everything inside the room exploded into a white-hot blast of fire and ash. Armor became roasted beyond the limits of the fireproof fabric, melted away into flesh, which burned severely until there was nothing but charred bones. There was little time to react, as the oxygen inside the area was used up as a result, killing several more soldiers that were wounded or thrown about. Ceiling after ceiling was incinerated as the blast flew upwards, setting ablaze part of the complex and the unlucky occupants. Luckily Gregory and his unconscious brother managed to avoid the blast by going into a heatproof corridor with sprinklers.

Even Prelude watched in awe outside the clinic, awhile punching those who managed to escape into the ground with their heads buried, seeing the fiery cyclone shatter the top roof. Scorched bodies of various soldiers and Genova Corp guards rained down, some of which crashed into the survivors from above. "Heh...that guy never fails to impress me, that dumb jerk." She smiled, finishing up with a demolition knee to her opponent's gut.

"...debris..." Requiem muttered, looking at the large hole melted through by the flames, as chunks of coral the size of minivans fell down. With the Queen destroyed, the hive itself was breaking apart. Forming her bow with the iron fillings, she took aim and fired off a few rounds with dead-on accuracy to knock them off course.

"Good shot!" Prelude gave the thumbs up, knowing that she was already low on flare ammo.

"..." Requiem didn't respond, continuing to protect her comrades since that would be what the captain would want.

A minute later, the dangerous inferno was quelled as there was nothing left to burn, like a match being blown out. Although the complex wasn't completely torched, only 1/2 of it remained undamaged, like the area for forced organ donors and the jail cells with the DF prisoners.

"**SHASHASHA! THAT FELT GREAT TO BE AT FULL POWER AGAIN**!" Bolero laughed inside the now empty room filled with ash and blackened bones. He barely felt anything besides a bit of heat stroke and maybe a headache from overheating. By extending his tendrils around him in the form of a grape, he was able to survive the massive explosion.

"Bolero, you okay in there?" Prelude called out to him on the other side, flat-palming a soldier with a rapier and driving him halfway into the wall.

"**NEVER BETTER**!" Bolero answered, getting off of the Doctor and lifting the man off the floor with a fierce grin of victory. The man's eyes were white, rolled back and his mouth was foaming with his tongue out, not to mention the spasming and shaking. "**EH, FOOLISH PIRATE. YOU UNDERESTIMATED BOTH THE CAPTAIN AND ME, AND NOW YOU'RE POISONED**." He smirked, taking his time to walk out the broken exit, with the Doctor wrapped securely in a blanklet of spinal tendrils by his back.

Prelude was the first one to greet him, before slapping him hard on the snout for risking their lives on a gamble. "What if we had been caught in the blast?! Take some responsibility!"

"**SORRY..."** Bolero held his head down, knowing that if anything, Prelude had every right to beat him up.

"Whatever..." Prelude sighed, now poking Alto a few times. "The captain won't wake up for another ten minutes. The other marines are already completing their tasks with the prisoners and such." Going into one of her belt pockets, she produced a pair of seastone cuffs and snapped them on the Doctor's wrists by moving both arms behind his back. "Let's go."

"**WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT BEFORE**?" Bolero asked, scratching his head at Prelude as he led the way out.

"Because I didn't want-a. That's why." She retorted, knowing that she wouldn't be able to touch the Doctor awhile he was awake since he could banish her to another 'dimension'.

"...Roger that... Requiem said, walking backwards so she could continue shielding the group from the falling reef piles.

--  
4 hours later...

"Ah...so that's what happened. I was wondering why I felt wobbly when I woke up." Alto said, lying on a soft straw mattress in one of the town's small houses. Gladyr was already administering morphine and other chemicals through pills he could swallow since he hated all forms of needles. His back was still stinging though, which meant he couldn't feel his legs until Gladyr began the operation to reconnect the nerves.

The other villagers wanted to come in to congratulate the brave captain who fearlessly took on the one who held their loved one's captive and dismantled the Clinic. However, they also knew the evil merman who broke their windows and caused minor fires was also inside the small hut as a door guard.

Only Gregory and the Village Elder were able to safely go inside awhile the townsfolk set up tents and stalls for a festival. Women, men and children were tearfully reunited, sharing their awful experiences behind bars and forced to eat nasty gruel. Others began to work on ways to snap the DF Users out of Dreamweaver's control, which really wasn't needed after a through analysis by Gladyr. Without her messing around in their heads during sleep, the spell of absolute obedience to the Doctor would wear off in about 3 days or so.

Of course, Gladyr also handed out floatation devices to the ones he studied since many of them were once fishermen. No sense in catching a Sea King if the boat tips over by accident. And just in case, he made the families sign a waiver that prevented them from exposing the existence of a Devil Fruit factory and to keep the DF user from being a pirate. That way the World Government wouldn't step in to isolate the island from the rest of the world.

"We are truly grateful to what you have done for us. The sister merchant islands nearby had re-opened their ports to our ships for trade once more and because of the deep crater and the reef, the tourist industry will grow dramatically as a result." The Elder said, bowing down to Bolero and Alto. Prelude picked her teeth with a toothpick after eating a good meal of freshly caught Kiwifish, a bit annoyed that she missed out on some of the fun.

"Eh, it's okay. We have all four of the Generals locked up tight in the seastone brig with the Baka Wardens and that guy who controls chains. Once we assess how much they are worth from their wanted posters, we'll give about 35 percent the village for reparation of the buildings destroyed. We'll also send a few supply ships each week until the island is back to normal." Alto said, trying to shift his body around for a comfortable spot on the itchy straw cushions.

"5 Surgeon Generals, captain. There were 5. Dreamweaver escaped before I could do anything." Prelude corrected him, only to get a stern glare.

"If there is no physical body, then capture is impossible. Don't worry about it, she'll turn up somewhere else." Gladyr said, coming in with a black eye and faced Gregory. "Your brother appears to be fine, but I had to put on a few restraining devices and duct tape since he wouldn't stop screaming."

"That's &#ing good to hear!" Gregory stood up to whoop, as the villagers who heard it also cheered in celebration that one of the best fishermen was going to be okay.

"The problem is..." Gladyr interrupted, "it may take him a while to snap out of it, maybe about two weeks or so. I'm no psychologist, but his brain looks a bit more roasted than the other victims I checked, so give him lots of attention and remind him of his old days constantly so he would start to recall who he is."

**"BAH, IF ANTHING, MAKE SURE THAT HE TREATS MERMEN FAIRLY FROM NOW ON. IF ANYTHING, HUMANS AND MERMEN BOTH CAME FROM THE FREAKING SEA."** Bolero said bluntly, rubbing the bandages that Gladyr put on his snout and chest. One of which was the fireproof bandage which prevented him from bleeding like a faucet.

"I'll try, and I am truly &ing sorry for spearing you in the back. I guess I was a bit afraid." Gregory said, a bit used to Bolero's loud voice. Those who listened in though screamed in terror as they temporarily lost their hearing.

**"IT'S OKAY. BARELY FELT ANYTHING SINCE I WAS STILL DIZZY."** Bolero laughed a little, causing a few windows to shatter nearby. **"SO WHAT'S THE PLAN, CAPTAIN?"**

Alto sighed, feeling a bit left out of the mix before answering. "I just got word from the investigation teams combing the clinic for survivors. Over 140 million berri had been recovered, which will also be used to fund repairs and for the families of the deceased. Once Requiem's done, we ship out to the Holy Land since it seems that a war is about to occur."

"Yeah, it's not every day that she does this sort of thing." Prelude said, polishing her revolvers with a slight grin.

Outside...

"...wed you man and wife..." Requiem said plainly in a monotone voice, standing on the podium before 50 couples in tuxedos and wedding gowns. One quarter of them were marines. "...kiss the bride..."

Apparently during the fighting for survival, some of the marines hooked up with the locals and soon grew to love each other in the short time they had on the island.Of course, to keep the love in their hearts, a quick 15 minute wedding was set up by Requiem so she could properly do her job. Only problem was that instead of rice being thrown, it was 5 inch long earthworms which disgusted some of the marines leaving the ravaged chapel. Also, she attended the funeral wakes of the departed and said a few words for each person, praying for their soul to depart peacefully into heaven as graves were set up along the beachside where high tide wouldn't reach.

Not to mention instead of a flower veil, a massive Flounder fish was tossed into the air by the bride so whoever caught it had a fresh supper later on. To say the least, the island customs were rather fascinating to the Marines who watched on as witnesses. For they were the heroes who braved through the Cavern and fought bravely to save the village and the island.

It wasn't until later that Alto, Bolero, Requiem, Prelude and Gladyr had finished up the payment plan with the Village Elder. Crescendo was locked up tight in her room aboard the ship, sleeping like a baby awhile snacking on her pillows.

"You're sure you can't stay a bit longer? You're more than welcome to stay in a hotel with free lodging and food for a few more days." The Chief said, his jaw dropping from the incredible amount of berri that the Navy was willing to donate to the island.

"Nah, wouldn't be right. We have to find the rest of our missing nakama after all, and that requires a bit of research since they didn't leave coordinates for Requiem to follow." Alto said, sitting in a makeshift wheelchair that was taken out of the Clinic. It may take weeks according to Gladyr before he could walk normally again since the surgery will take a while to recover from.

"I understand. Currently Gregory is my successor, so I understand the meaning of getting people together. I wish you all good luck on your journey, and I wish you to have this, Bolero, was it?" The Elder handed over what looked like a orange credit card. "This is one of our town's most precious treasures, a item that will allow the user to buy any fish-related food and materials for free. Take it as a offering of goodwill from the village since you freed our brethren from the Doctor and shattered the 'dome' reef that was once our sister village."

Bolero was about to speak when Prelude clamped her hand over his snout, speaking for him as he growled. "He is pleased to have been given such an honor. Thank you so much for the gift."

"The pleasure is all mine, my dear lady." The Elder bowed, then turned to go down the ramp. Anchors were raised, sails unspun to catch the wind and Bolero went to the Rudder control room to perform his daily activities.

As Alto watched on as the sun slowly set, the townsfolk waved banners, cheered praises and sprayed confetti and streamers to thank the brave Navy crew for their hard work. Gregory was standing on the closest roof with a Navy tattered flag in one hand, giving off a military salute. Seeing no harm in it, Alto returned it with his own salute...and the wheelchair clumsily fell backwards, throwing him over the side of the Leviathan.

**"MAN OVERBOARD!!"**

--  
Meanwhile, on a secluded island in a Calm Belt...

A heavy gavel was struck hard into a mahogany desk once or twice in a row, silencing the heavy chatter of the darkened room. Everyone inside of it wore black clothing with hoods to obscure their faces for security purposes, shrouding their haki and killer intent in the process.

There were about 16 people altogether in the dimly lit room, which also served as a underground bunker to protect them from cannonball assault. Yet if they let all their auras go off at once, it would be the same as a hundred Buster Calls all directed at a single island.

What was most odd about the meeting was that five people were sitting at each of the three long rectangle tables, awhile the sixteen person stood on a throne overlooking them with a 'crown' glow-in-the-dark sticker attached to it. Also, each of the three tables had glowing stickers applied, one of a Coast Redwood Tree in the center, the one on the left with a massive boulder and the one on the right with a tall man with a shadow behind it.

"It's been a long time since we have all assembled in one place." The person sitting on the throne said, looking down at the fifteen occupants who seemed to be a bit annoyed with each others company. "I understand that Antoine isn't here today because the Navy had caught him."

"Not that we need him, he was effectively the weakest." One of the members at the 'Tree' table stated out loud. "This way, we are currently even in terms of members. No need to create more conflict from those with low bounties."

"Big talk from a little crumb." Another person twice as tall as a average person said with what appeared to be a Russian accent, sitting at the 'Boulder' Table. "Vhy don't cha run home now? He's dead after all."

"Nonsense, it has been proven that there were no bodies in the wreckage. Besides, there seems to be a new one taking his place." A stern, homely voice came from the 'Tree' table as the person clasped her hands. "So shut up."

"We lost track of ours months ago, it can be assumed he is past the Red Line, making him in the lead." A young man shakily said plainly from the 'Shadow' table, the person was so depressed that the ones closest to him were on the verge of going emo. "So can you guys drop it please?"

"Out of a council of 60, only us 16 remain after the hardships of war, lack of crewmembers, mutinies, coups, navy ships and the like. This is survival, my friends." The man on the throne said bluntly, his words chilling to the core to the fifteen. "Three months from now, we will commence the operation. Once we collect the prize, nothing will escape our reach. Behave with each other before and during the event, and I can assure you that I will grant your deepest dreams and make them a reality."

"Hail, Azuza!"  
"Hail, Lord Azuza!  
"Hail, King Azuza!"  
"Hail, Emperor Azuza!"  
"Hail, Commander Azuza!"

"Hail, Admiral Azuza!"  
"Hail, Administer Azuza!"  
"Hail, Prince Azuza!"  
"Hail, General Azuza!"  
"Hail, Principal Azuza!"

"Hail, Commander Azuza!"  
"Hail, Tetrarch Azuza!"  
"Hail, High Constable Azuza!"  
"Hail Fleet Marshal Azuza!"  
"Hail, Pirate King Azuza!"

And then everyone of the fifteen applauded, stomping their feet and clapping hard towards the person on the throne. He was the savior of the pirate race, the man who will overthrow Gol D. Roger's legend and make his own destiny written into the books of world history. They were willing to die for him if need be, since he would fight hard to destroy all who dared to oppose them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Great Age of Piracy is at an end! For the Great Age of Imperialism has begun!!" The one known as the future Pirate King Azuza roared, standing up to punch the air in a dramatic pose to prove his worth to his personal Alliance. For soon, the World Government will fall to it's knees before his Grand Naval Armada!!

* * *

Next Arc: Breezing thru the Con Job, Descent into the Abyss of Tyranny!

Hanky Hanky Snot-4-U HARDEN

Dragon Claw –A lesser form of Dragon Claw Drill, but is capable of extending and curling around his victims before poisoning them.

Kiwifish-A Long-necked fish with a bird beak

Gabriel Bow: Tempest-A surge of arrows coming down from above in a wide area

Hanky Hanky Booger Stream-The Doctor's strongest ability, accumulates the nose drippings of every person who sneezes into a hanky into a powerful weapon.

Grappler Ship-Experimental ship similar to Foxys, can impale ship hulls to cling onto them before firing a massive stream of boiling hot water.


	28. Winds of Passion, ConJob Arc begins!

SH: (walks in, hampered by the drygrass cough) Just for the record (hoff) , this is a intermission/filler part before (achooo!) the actual arc begins. Thus, it's mainly to explain (hoff) the plot a bit better and reveal new characters essential to the storyline. Expect some non-OC cameos as well,**_ ACHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!_** (gets sent flying by the super sneeze)

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, or Kilnorc's works. Any thing pertaining to other OC authors is their own. Please read and enjoy Kilnorc's OP fic and his other fanfiction, they're quite good! And if I did own One Piece, I would at least find out where the heck the other crewmembers are, and I doubt Oda will turn his focus away from Luffy to individually make new chapters for each person. All hail the last Saw movie!

* * *

CH 28

_"Day 1. Mom and Dad dropped me off at the Marine Base with a loaf of bread and a comb. Bawled my eyes out for hours. The Marine chief kicked me in the face to stop the tears. It hurts. Love, Alto. "_

It was said that Thriller Bark was the largest Ship in the world. A entire island, refitted from the East Blue surrounded by a thick wall with a mouth to trap pirate ships. How it was defended against Sea Kings was a mystery since lower ranked zombies were along the edges and weren't exactly great fighters, but it could be assumed the Mysterious Trio had some ways of combat.

However, those rumors were only rumors processed by those in the Navy, since they wanted to keep their own things secret. One month after Enies Lobby fell, the war between Marines and Pirates had escalated. And chaos had erupted in several islands because of it.

Those in the Marines trained harder than ever to meet the standards of the Vice Admirals, randomly chosen for the long trip ahead and transported directly to the Red Line. Because of Ace's capture, Whitebeard will soon be up in arms to stop the execution from occuring.

Which comes back to who has the biggest ship. Namely, the Navy Fleet. Over 100,000 tons and 570 ft long, with a width of 88 miles, a new form of ship was made for the sole purpose of protecting both the crew and the 3 Admirals that came with it. It made the Leviathan that was hanging by several grappler chains on the side look like a chew toy by comparison.

In other words, it was classified as the first Supercruiser, a unique battleship that could take on enemies both in the water and in the air, with a rather large crew made of different Navy personnel in the tens of thousands. After the first bottle of wine was smashed against the hull, the Leviathan and other Marine Warships clung to the sides with anchors and chains as it made it's way through the Calm Belt's entryway.

Unfortunately, despite it's size and heavy firepower, it was freaking slow since no sails were equipped to it and relied on steam-powered wheels on each side to push it along. Hence, everyone's nerves were on edge since there was little to do.

Save for the paperwork. "Help! I'm drowning!!!!" Alto thrashed wildly, trying to stay above the workload that had practically overfilled his personal office aboard the W.G.G. ( World Government Guardian) Tsuru. From open vents in the ceiling, forms, documents and office supplies fell down each minute causing him a bit of alarm.

As a Captain, he had to fill out the important documents for roster changes, payment plans, local island repairs, drafts, marine selections, weapon repairs and so on. However, because of his 'not interested' attitude, he barely felt the need to work on such trival items when he craved a challenge. Which sorta explained why the Leviathan was in such disrepair and disorderly since there was no change for it.

"Darn it all! I hate this sorta stuff!" He said angrily, producing a red stamp with a ink pad to randomly hit the files that spread around him in his small 7 foot office. Having only a foot remaining of space with his feet dangling above the ground, he passed the papers that he signed and processed through a thin slot in the wall to take to the Main Mailing Room.

He wasn't the only one. Dozens of Commanders, Captains, Commodores and even the elusive Rear Admirals who recieved their offices were under constant pressure to fill out important forms without the time and effort to read them first.

"When did we owe 11 million berri for the destruction of a oil tanker? Or this 45,000 berri restaurant that ended up flattened to rubble? I know we had that mishap when Bolero got bubblegum and went bonkers on Luda Island, but I didn't expect this much property damage." He muttered, his eyes silently crying inside looking at the bills of how much he currently owed. "Looks like I'm back to ramen again for the rest of the year..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Luckily, one floor down, the Lieutenant Commanders, Lieutenants and lower ranked officers had no such troubles since they had barracks set up. It wasn't like the Captains needed them after all, so they felt it was fine to party all night and day. Dancing on tables, playing pranks, flushing newbies in the toilets, starting up hazing rituals, laying around or doing normal chores, it was a rowdy fest of booze and fun since their superiors were unable to keep them under control. And because of it, seamen went to other barracks to check out the competition and study the infamous Gandros Marines who were said to be the toughest despite lacking quite a few members. And boy were they surprised....

"Another round, boys!" Prelude said drunkenly, sitting on top of a pile of her halfway comatose victims at the Barrack's bar. Ten new shot glasses of Grape Wine slid down the row which she picked up one at a time to drink out of. The other Liuetenants, trying to save face, drank to their fill in order to catch up to her.

**"GOOD GRIEF, PRELUDE. DON'T DRINK ALL OF IT, EVEN MERMEN LIKE A STIFF PATCH OF ALE AND GROG ONCE IN A WHILE."**Bolero muttered, sitting on one of the metal 'lunchroom' tables, eating his daily rations of Amberfish.

"Heh, Bolero, don't be stupid. Last time I gave you a wine keg, you ended up in the hospital for a week. You're such a lightweight with alcohol." Prelude smirked, gleefully downing another shot.

**"AND YOU'RE JUST DROWNING YOURSELF IN IT BECAUSE THE GIRL YOU DISLIKE IS BECOMING MORE POPULAR WITH THE MARINE FANBASE. OWCH!"** Bolero teased her until she shot him 5 times in the face with her red flares, making him wince from the impacts. **"WHAT, IT'S TRUE."**

"Yeah, I have about five different Niri pin-up posters by my fold-up bed." One of the Warrant Officers said, blushing a bit about his idol.

"Posters? I got wallet-sized pictures in my pocket, plus a mini-wax replica action figure." Another marine boasted, revealing over 30 pictures lined up of his idol in different poses.

"I got a 'Attack on Enies Lobby" bibliography book made by the marine survivors with the crew's signatures on it. They look forged but it has plenty of pictures." A boastful young lad said, pulling out the book from his knapsack so everyone can read it.

"Cool, I got a few T-Shirts with her face on them." A chubby marine with freckles said, eating a chocolate ice cream cone.

"I got Niri trading Cards with 3 super deluxe holographic types!" A tall marine with smooth silky hair said proudly, taking out his wallet to show a collection of cards inside.

"Me too, wanta trade for a limited edition Niri in Swimsuit card?" The guy's best friend giggled, showing off a picture album of the AxeHead crew as they swapped cards.

"I hear Captain Attachan enlarged some of her Bounty Posters to paste onto various buildings so everyone could recognize her." A pair of gossiping girls said in unison, their eyes sparkling with admiration.

CRUNCH! The Bar Table was split in half due to Prelude's monstrous karate chop, her teeth gritting so much that sparks were coming out of her mouth. Even her shallow, liquor-hazed eyes were burning ablaze with rage. "Damn it!!!!! Stop talking about her already, she's a freaking pirate for crying out loud! Marines capture pirates, we shouldn't admire them! Next person who states something related to her gets a cap in the face!"

With that, everyone turned away and discussed meager conversation with each other, knowing that they had caused Prelude of all people to blow a gasket.

"......" Requiem gulped down a jug of fine wine without stopping for air, then refilled it to the brim to chug it all over again. Being completely soulless meant that the effects of being drunk were negated completely, yet she watched as Prelude growled in frustration.

"I swear, I respect her for saving her friend and all, even taking out that CP9 jerk. Never did like those guys since they were nasty assassins. But the guys in the Merchandising department are really milking it overboard to make these pirates famous by appealing to the Otaku-types in the Navy." Prelude grunted, moving to sit down next to Requiem and asked for a light grape wine.

"....ignore it...." Was Requiem's reply, since she seriously didn't care about her comrade's problems. If anything, she was overreacting over nothing.

"Easy for you to say." Prelude's voice sounded slurred. "I mean really, we just learn now after Enies Lobby fell that King of all people was taken out by a Miko like yourself. Heck, even I was a bit uncomfortable with that guy since his face was ugly as sin."

".....not a true one..." Was her answer, plain and simple. In other words, she didn't care at all.

"And what about you, Bolero? Found anyone in the bounty posters to be your rival?" Prelude giggled slyly, losing her consciousness by the second as she drank out of the bottle this time.

**"NAH, LOOKED OVER THEM. CAN'T FIND ANY ONE WHO WOULDN'T GET SICK BY MY POISON."** Bolero laughed, causing his tendrils to wildly 'slap' anyone close by, sending them into a temporary relapse with foam bubbling out of the mouth. He ducked quickly to avoid an incoming Marine seaman which was pitched over him like a softball.

"...invitation time...." Requiem's eyes narrowed, watching as more and more marines were sent flying through the air. Prelude grinned, amused at the sight of men smashing through tables and chairs like they were bowling pins. In the center of the barracks, Crescendo was fending off about fifty different men with a wild smirk on her face as they closed in like a den of wolves.

It was rather simple, defeat the little girl and you get a Rank on the Leviathan. Being Rank 10, Cresendo was effectively the test of passage for those who wanted a piece of the action, but she was also the most difficult. Especially since she weilded Hoppi as her weapon of choice, slamming it hard into the fragile bones of the Marine officers. Already gurneys were brought in by the medical corps to collect and gather the fallen so they would be revived later with severe injuries only Navy Insurance can pay for.

Gladyr had no trouble getting 'customers' for his services now that the captain had recovered quickly from his injury, standing with a row of professional doctors on the far left corner of the room to receive the 'fallen' patients who were out of breath and too sore to move. He was enjoying the fact that he wasn't anywhere near his walking disaster of a captain, conversing with his own brethren and testing new medical tools for faster repair.

"Hey, Gladyr! Want a pint or two?" Prelude sluggishly called out to the doctor, raising a large mug to cheer in a carefree fashion.

"Nah, you know that I gave up the stuff long ago when I fell overboard that one time and you saved me from swimming downwards without a clue how to go up." Gladyr waved her off, sweatdropping at how immoral her behavior was since she was too young to enjoy that stuff. "Besides, it damages the liver and kidneys."

"Bah, I'm intolerant to that stuff." Prelude said, chugging down another bottle of grape wine despite needing to use the restroom. "Of course, later on I'll be hogging the co-ed toilet, so don't think of coming in."

"Who would want to? ARRGH!" THUNK! Gladyr slumped backwards as the heavy wine cask slammed straight into his face, knocking him out from the weight and speed of Prelude's pitch.

"Idiot..." Prelude puffed her cheeks out in anger, then revolved the bar stool around a few times in a playful manner, kicking off the floor to gain speed.

"....your momma...." Requiem said plainly, turning her head slowly to the right as she heard a fast heartbeat approaching them.

"What?" Prelude said, barely registering reality at the moment. That was when a tall, brazen-tanned woman with short red hair down to half her neck and emerald eyes came up and socked her straight in the face. She was wearing a Commodore uniform with multi-colored feathers spread out along the shoulders and pants. A 7 foot long bazooka was strapped to her back, designed to illuminate the night sky for a few hours.

"Daughter of mine, didn't I tell you that the open bar is for those with cash? You've been calling for more and more but I don't see any pay. You should be glad I've been watering these down so you wouldn't get sick." **Amelia Hikari **shouted, clenching the bloody fist in outright rage. "Liutenant or not, you still have to pay for those drinks!"

"Yes, mom." Prelude groaned, rubbing the sore bleeding spot on her forehead. Going into her wallet, she brought out a few hundred berri notes and handed it over to her mom. After hearing that her daughter, who gained her previous title, took such a savage hit from Dreamweaver, Amelia signed her transferrable slip to keep an eye on her by working the Local Barracks.

"I swear, you're as unkempt as your father." Amelia muttered as she went back to cleaning mugs and refilling them for the countless joyful marines. "I'm cutting you off for now, come back in 9 hours or so when it's out of your system."

"Killjoy." Prelude grumbled, stumbling about off the stool and into the crowd of onlookers. If anything, watching Crescendo's fight would help her relax a little as men and women held fistfuls of berri notes to bet on the fighters.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Attention! Attention, please!" A heavy blaring of sound screeched out from the Den Den Mushi loudspeakers, causing a few water glasses to crack and shattered several windows in the process. Some Marine Officers even attempted to block it out by covering their ears, but ended up with blood on their hands as a result.

"This is Shadow Cabinet Vice-Admiral **Moe Haggins**! To those Captains currently drowning in files, we have now sealed off the venting system for the time being and unlocked the specialized padlock doors. Once you get out, proceed to the War Room. Once everyone is here, we will proceed with our plans for the upcoming months." A musky, dry-sounding voice said, as the flow of bills, documents, important forms, charts, graphs and other items of self-interest stopped pouring in the offices. The latches, which were supposed to be shut, detached automatically and the doors swung open as one.

And just as quickly, any unsuspecting marine passing by were hit by the heavy flood that ravaged the hallways like a giant anaconda, buried alive like the Marine Captains trying to keep their heads up for oxygen. Small windows broke apart from the pressure, spewing out forms and license agreements into the unmerciful sea. Luckily the stairwells were closed off, and soon the flow was reduced to a drabble in a matter of minutes.

The damage was minor, but painful at the same time. Many suffered intense paper cuts all over their unprotected arms and legs, or burns from skidding across the floor once it smashed them down and pushed them across the tiling and walls. Alto was one of the lucky ones, using his strings to create a Double Hand Ball Barrier to shield him from suffocation and being dragged along, yet his hands were sore from writing his signature so much.

"The toils of a captain can be overbearing when claiming responsibility for the property damage his crew does." He sighed, retracting his strings as he stood up slowly. "I really need to give Bolero a freaking muzzle and a guide dog one of these days."

TWANG! A oversized lawn dart nearly grazed his scalp by a mere inch and dug the razor-sharp point into the wall behind him, causing a few of his hairs to 'part'. His first reaction was cringing, but when he realized there was no follow-up, he turned to face a band of seven very obnoxious people that he knew all too well.

Altough each of them were wearing the standard Navy Jacket with the Logo of "Justice" on it, (Alto decided not to put his logo on for personal reasons) they were wearing their own personal clothing around it. Like the weird 5'6" guy with black gelled hair handcrafted into a ducktail mullet with ebon black pointed shades, with chains in his pockets attached to 'morningstars'. The one next to him was a man who never took the time to iron out his clothes or wash his glasses, his head turning to see every possible angle out of nervousness and his legs looked jittery, causing the four guns in his twin holsters on both sides to 'jingle'. The third one in line was a sturdy-built, impatient man with a golden helmet covering most of his head, with specialized goggles and a oxygen tank and tube for easy breathing, and the fancy golden boots with wires and small motors seemed to hum for a while.

Another man wore a cross necklace around his neck and a brown tattered cape on his back, his shoes looked worn out and he looked like he was fasting due to his ribs showing. There was also a young, attractive woman in her 20's, with a long dress that went down to the floor to hide her legs, and wore a black veil over her face. She was being hit on constantly by the guy with puffy blond hair, his eyelashes long and stringy and sorta smelled like peaches in a way, in which most people call a 'Bishonen type'.

In the corner was a young boy, maybe close to Prelude's age, with long unruly black hair running down his back, his arms and legs were covered with protective body armor designed for amplification of physical strikes. And finally, the mass of lard that covered half of the hallway and the reason Alto had to wait his turn, as he was having trouble getting through the doorway into the staircase. Alto pinced his nose since the guy had obviously forgot to shower again, standing in line with the other captains who were impatient to get this over with.

Since they wouldn't be around for a bit, he summarized them in this fashion.

Fonzo Gonzo-Believes in the art of "Cool Justice", his head is steel-plated to protect him against psychic attacks and to pound away at the skulls of others. A naturally decent person, he weilds specialized darts with seastone tips, and has the power of absolute focus, making it hard to miss his target. Like the others, he has mastery over a powerful martial art, his is known as "Koppou", a had-on flash step style with explosive strikes.

Mick Daniels-The most paranoid, has concocked hundreds of rumors and half-truths during his stay in the navy. However, this also makes him very fast on the draw with his Ruger Magnum, a master of the practical art of 'gun fu'.

Welker Bobbo- Genius captain who managed to make a pair of gasoline powered rocket boots. Unfortunately, they can only go about a foot in the air. The kicks are extremely painful though. His mastery is over Krav Maga, a no quarter martial art of crippling and adaptation for keeping himself safe.

Francis Jurin- Religious captain, enjoys a good prayer during each battle and uses a deadly prayer bead in battle. Said to be a Itako since he can revitalize his men depending on the injury. With specialized seastone brass knuckles and knowledge of Jambuvanti Malla-Yuddha, he can force a pirate into a painful submission.

Rebecca- Sharpest tongue in the room, can put down anyone in 2 seconds flat. Well known for having numerous lovers who enjoy being mocked. She specializes in the quick footwork stave martial art known as Silambam, since she always carries a multi-segmented walking stick due to lack of stamina on long hikes hidden on her person.

Nick Walker -Highly vain, likes to look at mirrors reflecting himself. Talented with the rapier and the rose, tries to lure Rebecca into dates. His speciality when he can't fence off with others is Pencak Silat since he is more animal than man in some ways.

Troy Malst-The one guy in the Navy that required nose clips, since the ship he has doesn't have a shower. Burly, tough and a sweaty pig of a man, he hasn't taken a bath in 4 years since he became a captain. Thus, anything he touches turns grimey and spoiled, like causing pimples to sprout on the skin or mold over one's hands. His mastery is over Sambo, a powerful grappling art that takes full use of his immense size of arm reach, causing any pirate to submit voluntarily before passing out.

"To enter the territory, kid, you gotta pay the toll." Fonzo smirked, clenching his hand a bit to show he wanted a roll of berri or more.

"Kid?" Alto leaned his head to the right, slightly confused by the statement. "Aren't we basically in the same class?"

That earned him a super fast snap punch to the head, followed by another 5 punches. All in a single second as Fonzo simply vanished and reappeared before him using the Koppou sliding technique. His glasses took the brunt of it, bending inwards a little before he countered with reverse palm slaps to change the hand's course trajectory.

"Hmmph..." Fonzo grumbled, rubbing the sore knuckles on both hands once he backed up. "Just because we were once classmates, you think you're all that. Lately I've heard you decided to pick on the rodents instead of the tigers like we do everyday."

"It's not like I wanted to avoid confrontation, Fonzo. They held my crewmates hostage, I had to take them on." Alto said sternly, staring him fully in the eyes, even if he couldn't use Haki like the seven of them could.

"Bah. How worthless of you to think so little of your subordinates when they had the tools and ability to escape. You can go, but the War Room is not a child's playground." Fonzo said, speaking for the others and himself as he coolly twisted around with his Navy Jacket flittering in the air like a cape. No use speaking to a fool who couldn't even handle a man with one of the world's most lamest Devil Fruits, he didn't deserve such a powerful title as the legendary "Alto".

"Jerkish jock...." Alto mumbled under his breath, knowing that if it was a real fight, Fonzo would have buried him like a tombstone. He may have gotten the title of Alto for his loyalty and ability to use the wires like a pro, but that in turn spawned many, many enemies wishing to claim his title. What was worse is like him, all seven captains had never eaten a Devil Fruit. Thus, somehow or another, they could beat up pirates with 200 million bounties or higher with their skills and techniques without taking a lot of external damage.

He also blew on his swollen, red hands as soon as they went downstairs, shaking them a bit to let the blood flow normally. Koppou, being a form of 'leaning forward' karate, allowed Fonzo to punch gaping craters into mountains. That by itself made him a very formidable rival to Alto who relied on hand strength to lift and shove objects away.

'I wonder what's on the menu today?' He thought, taking a seperate staircase on the left hallway side. Those who he passed by stood up straight to salute him, or handed him files to be processed later. The documents he recieved were tossed into the mail room since he wasn't in the mood. 'Today's Sunday so I suppose I'll have a Brat or Spaghetti with Meatballs. That is, unless the Captain's Cafe is overcrowded like yesterday.' He shivered, recalling how uncomfortable it felt for him to be trapped in a massive crowd of unfamiliar people awhile realizing that over 30 of them had pilfered his wallet the minute he prepared to pay for his Carrotcake Special.

Luckily, despite his bad navigation skills, he followed the Green Flashing Arrows with the words "War Room" painted on them in large letters. Yellow Arrows were for the maintenance staff, red arrows for the chefs and blue arrows for everyone else trying to get to the hangar or the barracks. Several more officers and door guards saluted him which he gave a curt nod to for acknowledgement.

'Ever since Ace got captured, everythings been so lively despite this ship being on it's maiden voyage. Still...I can't believe so many captains are here to fight one guy. Last I checked, all he had was skill with a Naginata and that haki hocus-pocus.' He thought, going down another stairwell and towards a wide room with two burly, 8 foot tall guards protecting the seastone-laced, 4 foot thick steel doors with several locking mechanisms.

The second they laid their eyes on him, they scowled in disgust. This wasn't the first time some thin-looking, poor-faced, beardless guy came to 'spy' on what goes on, stealing a captain's uniform from the Locker Room. Licking their dry lips, they slowly withdrew their long katanas to teach the brat a lesson in humility. Only to realize their hands were no longer attached to their arms, the blood vessels cauterized.

"Heh...let that be a lesson to the both of you." Alto said calmly, walking towards the entrance as the two rushed him. He threw them like limp rags in a backwards flipping throw by grabbing their other hands upon passing through. "Sausage Roll Toss..."

It was child's play for him to find the lock combination once he was certain both guards were out cold (he put Gladyr's business card in their pockets since he knew the doctor could easily patch up a small injury like that). Slowly by carefully, he unlatched the locks and opened the right door cautiously in case there was a trap behind it.

What he found instead was a well-lite room half the size and width of a football field (high school-sized, not stadium), with a ebon black-painted Adam Wooden table and dozens of chairs on either side. On the walls were pipes designed to 'listen' in to private conversations via the venting system throughout the ship, and personal Den-Den Mushis next to each chair. Charts, graphs and bounty posters were everywhere, even on the floor which he placed his shoes with the others in the left corner of the room.

The Seven Fangs, as he called them, ignored him completely as he walked by to his seat. He 'hopped' over a foot meant to trip him over, then stomped it hard causing Francis to yelp a bit before covering his mouth. 'Gotta have to do better than that....' He thought, not even bothering to sense the killing auras coming off of them. So what if he had defeated pirates below 200 million? They were worth more than that since their strength didn't match the threat level.

"Yo, been a while." Captain Shuu greeted him, looking a bit fatigued after being shot hard by the masked pirate hero known as Sogeking. His right shoulder took the brunt of it, the skin slightly burnt and stung like hell.

"Indeed." Alto nodded, glad to see some familiar faces and one not so decent face like Captains Very Good, Sharingu, Nezumi and T-Bone (who looked like a drowned rat, severely depressed that he lost). He didn't practically like Nezumi very much, but he was one of the few who had ways of keeping the mermen who joined the Navy under his thumb, as well as his knowledge of black trade in the pirate world.

Ensign Makko, although not a captain, was sitting on his own personal chair twiddling his thumbs impatiently for he was under Captain Hina's orders to attend the meeting. Apparently she and Smoker and several other captains had chosen to take their own routes, as well as the Admirals who were currently stationed in the Holy Land for the moment.

He wasn't the only one who seemed out of order since Commodore Pudding Pudding didn't look much worse for wear in his seat, despite nearly drowning in that whirlpool that Arlong's crew whipped up months ago. His braided purple hair was a mess though as the front braid covered half of his face to cover the deep scars from the surgery. It was said he held his breath for over 20 minutes until he reached the surface of the water with his light body mass, then found a long piece of driftwood to lay down on until a day later when a Navy Ship came to pick up Arlong and his defeated crew. He was thirsty, sore and covered with splinters, and parts of his body were damaged severely as a result, but he healed quite well afterwards.

Major Rapanui, as well as his lower ranked Marine Officers Longo, Akibi and Isoka, were chatting up a storm about what to expect from the meeting. Although not many marines knew about their origins, they agreed that because of his handling of pirate ships and hard effort, he and his group could join the cause. That, and because of his friend Hanzo who supplied the Marines with new gadgets and non-lethal weaponry for capturing pirates.

Captain Moor and Commander Jonathan were bickering away in the back about moral and absolute justice, trying to get the other to see that fast beats slow or Strategy beats Recklessness. Despite Jonathan being in charge of G-8, the World Government saw him as a inspiration to prepare for anything Whitebeard might have, allowing Commander Nelson to act as a powerless figurehead at the base until he returned. His wife, Jessica, was among the cooking staff on the Tsuru since she couldn't stand not being near her husband, allowing the Marley brothers to take her place until she got back. Apparently the new menu she had was a hit with everyone on board, save Alto who didn't like it that much due to too much meat and not enough fiber.

And finally, to round things out was a King-sized, bed-ridden Commodore Nelson covered in thick casts with his new consort assistants, Saga and Touma, and his subordinate Commander Shosa. After being cut severely by the traitorous Erik, he was given time off to recover. Without the ability to fan himself since he was paralyzed, the sweat he gave off slowly reduced his body mass inch by inch until he could actually see part of his legs. But because of his rage towards Luffy for screwing up his plans, he decided that going to the New World will help him find other dragons once his body fully recovered. After all, he was the Captain of the 8th Branch.

Saga and Touma, on the other hand, were doing it of their own accord after their bout with Zoro. After enlisting into the Navy, Saga worked his way up to a Lieutenant Rank with Touma as his senior, knowing that if anything he would get a rematch with his old friend, having the support of the village and Maya. In a way, they were Nelson's 'temporary bodyguards' since the Commodore provided large cannons and a wide fleet of battleships for the Tsuru as escorts. There were several other captains, but Alto didn't have the time to know them better since time was short.

"Attention!" All the captains and Commodores stood up straight as Shadow Vice Admiral Moe Haggins walked through the door, the atmosphere tense and deathly silent. He was a Long Arm-type of person, 4'9" with muscular arms going down to the floor and short stumpy legs. With a 4 'o clock shadow on his smug botox-fixed face and spiky-gelled hair, he was known as the "Grand Undertaker" due to his specialized assassination DF. That, and the large 6 foot shovel on his back that had taken the lives of hundreds of pirates.

Standing next to or 'over him' was his on again, off again girlfriend **Victoria Hunt**, the 'Black Sorceress' who was enjoying a light smoke using a black narrow pipe attached to a cigarette. Wearing a skimpy frill dress for her lower half (hips and legs) and a Vice Admiral uniform with a strong corsetto show off her 'assets', she threw up a few pints of blood into her hand and rubbed it on her cherry pink beehive hairdo to improve the coloring. Black, heavy ribbons were wrapped around her arms and her leg stockings, said to be her limiters to prevent her from going all-out in public. She grinned at some of the captains, increasing their heart rate as they could smell the aurora of delicious tempting perfume coming off her.

"I call this conjoined meeting to order." Moe said strongly, smacking the table with the shovel to silence the murmuring and quiet conversations the captains had. "As a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the World Government, I welcome you all to this assembly. Many of you are not only here because of rank, but because of your individual talents, regardless of loyalty. At this time, Blackbeard has accomplished what we feared, a attack from Whitebeard."

"Now, I know most of you are young and haven't been around enough to see his power, but I assure you that he is as powerful as they come. Now that Red-Hair Shanks is currently acting with him, the need to stop him in the New World is essential. As such, the three Admirals and the Seven Warlords will be taking a separate Flagship into battle. Our group on the other hand is to delay or capture the Commanders of Whitebeard's Armada."

Pulling down a chart along the side of the wall, with a large bar graph and number of ships he continued. "As you can see, the number of pirates and marines are almost equal. Almost. Although most of his crew are odd, they can be taken out with a high degree of haki but at the same time, the same goes for most of our men and many captains. Likewise, his Commanders may be prepared for a sea battle which they may have a upper hand in experience. Most likely we will have causalities on both sides."

Turning to face Alto, he grinned a little in recognition. "Ah yes, and I couldn't forget about the legendary Alto who had survived death countless times. Unlike the others, you get a special mission that requires your talents."

"Huh?" Alto's eyes widened, taken back by this news. He wasn't informed of any such task when he got the invite fifteen days ago.

"Hold on there! Any task that he can do, the Seven Fangs can do a hundred times better!" Fonzo roared, standing up awhile bashing a deep imprint of his arms into the thick wood like it was made of toilet paper. "This guy is incompetent! He only goes after the small fish instead of doing his job!"

"Calm down, Fonzo. I'm sure that I'm not the only one assigned to this if it takes priority over Whitebeard." Alto chuckled nervously, sweating a bit under the intense killing aura his rival was giving off, as the other six also stood up in a fit of fury. "Vice-Admiral, please!"

"What? You're a adult, you handle it." Moe said, not even slightly concerned to take part in such a small matter.

'Easy for you to say.' Alto thought, watching helplessly as the seven warriors of destruction jumped at him, readying their respective techniques.

For example, Mick was loading up his specialized Super Magnum 600s with bullets with a seastone tip, capable of blowing half of a human's body apart. Rebecca conjoined her stave staff to launch a full-out barrage of stabs which would make a regular man's bones shatter like glass. Nick became a whirling tornado of flesh and blood, his hands able to shatter boulders due to the high spin. Francis came up from behind to deliver a mind-numbing brass knuckle punch which would follow with a merciless arm twist. Troy, despite his size, jumped ten feet in the air above his head to crush him into the floor and cover him with his nasty mossy behind. Troy only performed a simple snap-kick, but in the process spewed a giant plume of fire straight at him, and Fonzo finished it off with a hundred razor darts instead of jumping right in.

"This could get tricky...." Alto said under his breath, extracting the strings outwards and curve his hands. A Spin-Shredder would work against the darts, but he was still under strict orders not to kill other people, even if they wanted to kill him. "6 Finger-"

FWOOOOOMM!!!! Before he could start the defensive barrier, a strong wind broke out in the center of the room, sending everything and everyone not bolted down (save for Nelson who was basically chained to the bed for his own protection) flying weightlessly around it. That included the darts that ended up stinging Pudding Pudding's and Makko's rear ends, causing them to yelp out in surprise and extreme pain.

Likewise, the other attacks never came close to getting close to Alto, but ended up half-killing several of the unknown captains or dealing heavy damage to the walls and ceiling, bursting holes through layers of reinforced steel and concrete. Those who ended up hitting the holes became stuck on the other side, or shot out of the room into the ocean sea.

Alto, on the other hand, was holding back tears of torture hanging on for dear life on his One Finger Zip-Line. Why? Some of the Commodores and Captains noticed that he wasn't being pulled with the currents but 'hovering' in one place with a hand out in front, so they ended up grabbing him by the legs. Which was why his poor, delicate finger was feeling like it was going to pop off at any time. That, and his pants were pulled down, exposing his giraffe underwear.

He blushed, feeling embarrassed a bit from this sudden exposure. Some of the men were already snapping pictures and laughing at him despite the fact the wind speed was slowing down. As soon as he felt that he was no less than 2 inches to the floor, he curved out three wires to slash the cameras and film into a pile of useless junk.

Then, gravity kicked in as the tornado-like winds faded away. The captains and commodores who fell only took minor to medium bruises and cuts, others were out cold smashing into the table or the chairs that were flung about. Alto took the time of confusion to pull his pants back up and locked the belt, hoping no one else would mock him.

Of course, no one even noticed him. They were too busy looking at the blue sphere of wind swirling around and around in place, possibly the cause of the sudden gale. Marines prepared their pistols and swords, ready to counter-attack if it would strike again.

"Hold your fire, all of you!" Moe shouted, barely even fazed by the wind as only his clothes were a bit tattered. "This is the one who had organized and respectfully paid for the war campaign! You will do him the same respect in not fighting in his presence and sit down."

"Heh, same old Moe." A carefree, sly tone of voice came from the ball as it opened up to dissipate into thin air. Those who looked on gasped in astonishment or awe at the sight before them, for the amount of ebil the person had was enormous to say the least.

"Greetings, **Shadow Cabinet Admiral Tango**. I hope the bed was to your liking." Melanie said, bowing down courteously to the 3 foot tall cat who was licking his left paw. Adjourned in make-shifted tailored Admiral clothing (shirt and jacket), the green-furred Oncilla (Tiger Cat) with brown stripes grinned ear-to-ear savoring his mayhem over the humans. He wore thick rubber galoshes for his hind legs and a belt to hold his sheath and small kodachi katana on his right side.

"So that's who my commander is." Alto said in disbelief, watching the furball walk on his hind feet like it was normal for cats to be up straight their whole lives. "The Oni Slayer of the North Blue, Shadow Admiral Tango."

"It was okay, I suppose." Tango shrugged, or attempted to despite having no shoulders. "You know that you didn't have to fluff the pillows that much. But the Water Bed was great to relieve some of the stress I've been having, ever since I was 'de-clawed' by that shrewd woman in the Shadow Cabinet. The Ratburgers were also a nice touch, you caught them?"

Many captains went pale thinking of the gorgeous Victoria catching mice with her manicured, smooth hands or fainted dead away at the thought in their seats. Melanie chuckled at the small joke though, amused at the cat's brazen wit.

"Anyway, Shadow Admiral Tango, now that you're here, we can finally get to the main course of the meeting." Moe said calmly, trying not to think of the rancid Ratburgers that the cat chewed on. A Movie Projector, probably a few decades old, was brought in by two A.V. Club Seamen close to the outer rim of the table's center. The lights turned off one by one, shrouding the War Room in absolute darkness.

Turning on the switch, a 2-Dimensional image formed on the front wall which appeared to be a bounty poster of Whitebeard. Alto gave a slight whistle in admiration of how high those figures went up, for it was higher than Black Crow. Everyone else glared at him for a second before giving their full attention to Moe.

"As we know, Whitebeard is powerful, but we believe that even now, he is tracking a peculiar pirate ship. After Vice-Admiral Garp had returned from Water 7, we have confirmed it to be called the "Ocean Dreamer", which holds the Axe-Head crew." The slide shifted to the Axe-Head pirates. "As well as the ship belonging to the StrawHat pirates." The slide shifted to Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and the other member's posters. "Sadly, due to Attachan's mistake, we have not been able to catch Black-Leg Sanji despite numerous attempts on a small island as he was last seen fleeing with mermen on Flying Fish."

"And as I told you before regarding your countless letters that I refused to address, I ain't interested in offing Axe or any of his nakama." Alto said under his breath, knowing full well of what kind of battle he would expect if Axe didn't have full control over his powers. Moe didn't seem to hear it though, and if he did, he ignored it since Alto was thinking small.

"Furthermore, new pirate crews have been spawning like rabbits all over the GrandLine and beyond. One of them is a Pirate Company that legally breaks former pirates out of our Government-type facility prison zones, another is a traitorous marine that has declared war on the World Government. This behavior cannot be overlooked." The slide shifted to dozens and dozens of new wanted posters which spread the camera angle widely.

He turned his focus squarely on Alto again, taking out a small seastone box the size of a Size 12 shoe and a pair of metal tongs. "And that's where you come in, Captain Alto. After your runabout with the Clinic, our forensic scientists had located this letter that once was in the hands of the one called "Bookworm"." He pulled out a white letter with the tongs and tossed it into Alto's capable hands, which he caught quickly.

"Two months from now, a event that happens once every ten years will take place. You were probably three or four at the time so you couldn't remember, but it was basically a bloodbath massacre for the Navy twenty years ago. To the people who run it, it's referred as a 'Convention', a social gathering similar to the Council of Kings. Which couldn't be farther than the truth."

"For it appears to a special three-day session for veteran pirates, which turns out to be a lot. And in this convention is a special activity known as a Scavenger Hunt, which as you know requires following a list to find certain items in a specific place. To summarize it simply, whoever wins can send every last pirate in that convention on a mission of destruction for a day. The last time, ten years ago, the Shabondy Islands were nearly ransacked by the tens of thousands of crazy pirates who vandalized the shores and took everything not bolted down. Even the Admirals had trouble driving them out."

"And what does this have to do with me?" Alto inquired, curious to where this was going.

"Simple, Alto. Before you managed to destroy the Clinic, we at Marine Headquarters had no idea that the attack on our shores was part of a 'Game' twenty years ago. Or the conquering of a small peninsula forty years ago. As it is, we have no way of getting together a counter-force in time, but we do have a few people on the inside. We believe a strong group of Pirate Captains who have aligned themselves with a long-forgotten prophesy will be attending this event, all of them in the 195 to 299 million bounty ranking."

"This group, believing themselves soon to be rulers, have acquired a large armada of 5,000 followers to attend the convention. Although that number is only a drip in the bucket of the massive gathering, it is said the individual pirate members are New World strong. We may not know what their plan is, but is seems to be far more different than the last 5 Conventions this century."

"In other words..." Tango said coolly, walking towards Alto with a slight leer. "We want you to infiltrate and sabotage the 'game'."

10 minutes later....

The War Room was deathly still as Alto had walked out the door with a hung, sorrowful head on his shoulders. Even the Seven Fangs, who objected to this at first, felt a bit of pity for their comrade. Moe was infamous for making people do what he wanted, even if it meant losing their freedom.

"Now that that part is over with," Victoria said cheerfully to brighten up the mood. "There is another job that we must attend to besides Whitebeard. Namely, the Second Coming."

"I've heard about it in History Books on my island, is it true?" Saga asked her, recalling the many, many books he studied on the island before he came in contact with the Seven Star Sword.

"That was the First Coming. The Second Coming was when revenge was sworn on the world. Big difference." Tango purred, curling up and lying down on the table.

"But how do you know if it's true? I haven't seen any signs of it." Rapanui said plainly, tossing a nickel up and down in his left hand. He and his subordinates had been doing research on supernatural activities for a few decades for some odd reason, which didn't surprise any of the captains.

"Just because you have not seen the signs doesn't mean he isn't around. After the Coral Island incident, we had lost contact with three different islands close by to the Red Line. Over 40 ships, both civilian merchant and Navy Warships, have either sunk or turned their cannons on one another for no reason. One of our main Prison Zones was compromised three days ago, and inspection teams had found that over 670 people had butchered each other in the most barbaric of fashions, including the Marine Personnel whom we believe took head shots of all attempting to flee. This behavior is not acceptable." Moe said strongly, bashing two more large dents into the table. "We had managed to capture one of the captains, but his mental state was so damaged that he ended up destroying the ship and all the inhabitants with only his fingernail-less hands."

"All around the world, the effects are first budding into those who already have deep anger issues instead of the innocent bystanders you pass on the street. Thus, more sudden suicides, creation of slasher-type fighters and deeply troubled psychopaths appear on the individual islands. This person, whom we fear, plans to reclaim the New World and this time, the rest of the world with his influence alone. Which is why we had assembled the greatest minds in the Navy to help cut down on the amassing hordes before they overrun the villages and islands we have influence in."

"Purrrrhaps..." Tango interrupted, "But you forgot the most important thing, the power this person has. Although it's not a usual run-of-the-mill Devil Fruit, it has ended up damaging private property. Houses imploded in the middle, sign posts twisted into pretzel-like shapes, roads folded upwards like a rug, brick streets as brittle as glass, and even the animals looked mutated into sleeker, more sinister forms. To me reading the files and pictures of the islands he conquered, it was like a tampered picture of chaos itself. Some of our investigators who went up stairs ended up trapped in a labyrinth of stairways for hours on end, or fell down pits that had ended up sending them halfway across the island."

"Worse yet, it was said this person's power does not require him to actually harm another person. Instead, those he defeats instantly 'join' him for some reason, and it is said four specialized bodyguards were with him at the end of the First Coming. We do not know the extent of his power or where those bodyguards are, but he had wiped out nearly all our warships including those involved in Buster Call warfare with his bodyguards and his ship known only as the ARK during the First Coming."

"So why not allow Alto to deal with him like his ancestor did?" Fonzo smirked, also familiar with the old story, but only about how it ended. Getting rid of his rival would leave the spot open for the Seven Fangs to move in for fame and glory.

Tango looked at him with cold, unfeeling eyes before answering, knowing this human was undeserving of being a Navy Captain. "At this time, he is untrained for this task. Despite his accomplishments in the past, this growing threat has taken into hiding to conserve and gather energy like he did in the First Coming. The people he has 'assimilated' have become his eyes, mouth and ears, basically average civilians now extremely dangerous with their talents and techniques amplified a hundred fold. Alto wouldn't stand a chance given his oath of non-killing."

"This is why he is charged with such a hazardous mission which make take his life in the process. I may condone killing of prisoners not on Death Row, but the one that we face is an enigma of true terror. I have faith in his abilities as a captain and I do not wish for him to suffer a similar fate. He and the others will have to work together if they wish to survive, isn't that right, my friend?" Tango grinned, looking at the new person who seemed to 'emerge' from the floor, causing some of the Marine Captains to back away out of fright or panic.

"Yes, of course, Shadow Admiral Tango. I will not fail you in tracking and obliterating that man, even if it means destroying a few islands for the sake of destroying my old records." The Revolutionary Hunter, Mezzo, said chillingly, bowing down in respect for his Master.

-----------------------

Meanwhile.....

"P-pi-pir-PIRATES! Have you lost your freaking mind! We catch them not impersonate them!" Prelude shouted angrily, stomping on Alto's bloodied skull for the fifteen time as she kicked him in the ribs. They were on the front deck of the Tsuru; Alto, Requiem, Gladyr, Crescendo, Prelude and Bolero, the rest of the marines were at the Huge Party that Prelude's mother was throwing. "I came up here because you had something important to tell us, but you want me to be a pirate for three days on some stupid event? How stupid do you think I am?"

"Very stupid." Gladyr, Bolero and Crescendo slapped the air, mocking her.

"Stay out of this, you jerks!" Prelude barked, kicking Alto in the ribs out of frustration. He groaned, knowing that he might need a bone transplant later on. "Captain, you should just say no to those people. There's no way in heck we can pull this off without exposing ourselves. Bolero alone could set off alarms with a 50 mile radius, sorry Bolero, but it's true."

**"EHHH, IT'S OKAY."** Bolero nodded, blowing small bubbles upwards to make a few mini-firework explosions.

"Besides, we'll be outnumbered. Over 90,000 pirates will be attending this thing. Even I know better than to chose a job that is a death sentence." She poked him on the cheek a few times, wondering if he had fainted. "There is no way, no chance, no slim possibility that I'll ever-"

"80 percent!" Alto choked out, despite the fact that his windpipe was nearly crushed by Prelude's Heaven's Light thrust kick. "80 percent of the bounty we reel in will be yours!"

That earned him a steel boot to the head, nearly knocking off his glasses. "You're not listening...." She said in a murderous, yet gleeful tone of voice. "We of the Hina clan don't care about money the same way you do. Instead, we trade items for items, as it had been that way for centuries."

Gladyr shook his head in dismay, annoyed at how the captain was being treated like a rag doll. "I swear, she mutinies against him almost every day because he lets her beat him up."

"......idiot pervert...." Requiem nodded in agreement, sipping her sugar-high coffee. For some reason, she didn't even feel awake or even alive at the moment.

**"HA HA HA! PRELUDE'S DOING THE BEATDOWN!"** Bolero laughed, knowing that if the captain willed it, he would poison her a dozen times over.

"How about a new gun then? You've always been oogling the gun shops inside the Supercarrier but they're currently out of your monthly salary range." Alto tried to bargain with her, only to wince as she kicked him where it hurts the most, curling in half-conciously.

"Buying my allegiance with guns? Have you no shame? The fact of the matter is that I will never be a pirate, even if it's pretend acting. Absolutely not!" Prelude hissed, barely listening to the peanut gallery.

"But it's only three days. You don't even need a bounty if anything to get in." Alto waved his arms, which Prelude noticed something very odd that made her stop thrashing him.

"What is that?" She asked, standing up with a scowl on her face.

"What is what?" Alto said, befuddled that she had stopped her relentless attack that would have caused musclebuilders to bawl out in tears.

"You have some weird smudge on your hand that wasn't here before. Is that why you're insisting so much?" She narrowed her eyes, stomping down on the right hand that would have chopped her into tiny chunks of human flesh. It was a small ebon circle the size of a cashew, but it had small black veins along the sides of it connected to his blood arteries.

Rolling on his right, he gave a faint smile of admiration to his lieutenant before answering, "Kinda. Apparently when I read the letter, it just 'attached' itself to me. According to Shadow Admiral Tango (who's overseeing the operation), it was on the hands of the ones known as Jester and Bookworm. A week after they were tossed into a Navy Prison, the black spot took their lives somehow by turning them into fertilizer as black moss sprouted out of the eyes, mouth and other open areas and spewed all over their rooms in large clumps. They're still trying to find their bodies even now."

"And if you don't attend, then you'll end up with the same fate as those two. Is that it?" Prelude glared, not really believing her captain had acquired such a sinister disease.

"Right." Alto shook his head, disturbed by the fact that no one else in the war room would take such a hazardous mission. "I should have had been more cautious, but the atmosphere of the room made me drop my guard. According to the fine print magnified on the bottom of the invitation letter, provided I'm not captured and imprisoned, once I am at the convention with a crew, the mark will leave my body."

"Yet you're forgetting something important." Prelude pointed out again, somewhat mocking him. "Once you use those strings of yours, no matter what disguise you have on, you'll be exposed in an instant. Requiem's too dull of a living doll to be among roughneck pirates, Gladyr has the tendency to pester young folk, Bolero's screaming could drive everyone mad and don't even get me started about Crescendo when we were at the King of Osfrord Island's ball!"

"......" Requiem just looked ahead, barely registering the comment made at her and sipped some more tea.

"Hmmph....I can keep my mouth shut once in a while." Gladyr snorted, crossing his arms in contempt.

**"I CAN'T HELP IT, YA KNOW! IF I DON'T TALK, I'M FREAKING BLIND!"** Bolero shouted, causing the planks and metal pipes to rattle and moan from the strong vibrations.

"Mmmmmm, I can recall how tasty those elephant-sized wolves were..." Crescendo smacked her lips at the memory, her bottomless stomach growling since she put in such a good fight beating up all those beginners.

"Regardless, you guys, what chance do we have to impersonate actual pirates? We believe in justice, not some stupid make-believe Code of the Sea that those scoundrels take heart in. Our faces aren't known, but Alto's ability as a captain would drive the plan into the ground. Besides, last I checked, you promised we would find Nocturne. This will not help the search one bit. " Prelude silenced them with a stern look, allowing Alto time to get back to his feet and rub his sore neck and sides.

"So? I'll improvise if anything. Besides, there's always the chance that we can obtain information on Nocturne's whereabouts." Alto said smoothfully, quickly disarming a nearby Marine Seamen of his saber using a frontal roll flip. He held the gold encrusted blade to face her head-on, slashing like a amateur at the air. "I'm not Nocturne, but I did train in sword combat before I became a cap-" POW! A flare blasted him straight in the gut, knocking the wind out of him as he was flung far off down into a staircase.

Spinning her flare gun and blowing out the smoke, Prelude reholstered it into her gunbelt. "Idiot. He should never compare himself to my fiancée without consequence."

**"HARSH."** Bolero blinked, stupefied that she could swat the captain away like he was nothing. he could also tell by his sonar radar that Alto was dropping down the stairs floor by floor, covering his face and curling into a fetal position to absorb the impact.

"It's his own fault, and I expect the rest of you to ignore it for now. If he wants to go so badly, he should ask some other crew to handle it." Prelude turned around to walk down the stairway off the front deck.

".....larger shadow...." Requiem said plainly, noting the fact that Prelude's shadow on top of her was expanding larger and wider by the second, despite the fact nothing could be seen above her at the moment.

"What now?" Prelude grunted, shifting her head halfway to look at Requiem's dead eyes, then looked down to see that her shadow was indeed widening out. Her own eyes widened in shock, as she leapt quickly out of the large shadow's range as it came down even faster and faster like a falling star. Gladyr ended up 'catching' her with her butt striking his face, his mint glasses shattered from the powerful impact and his nose was once again broken as a result.

It was like a hammer hitting a nail, and the front of the supercarrier was the wood, as something huge smacked down on it with enough force to slightly 'tip' the back of it by 10 feet in the air before balancing out, causing panic within the barracks and washrooms as well as damaged the main turbines that worked the propeller.

Requiem stared long and hard despite the cloud of thick steam that seemed to prevent the others from seeing clearing without tears in their eyes, looking up and up at the monstrosity that had entered their presence. It was definitely not organic since the heartbeat was far too small for it's large size and there was more electrical signals and impulses centered around it to make the body move properly.

To put it simply, the body frame was a giant 30 foot weasel with white fur and a black tip at the tail. It was clearly mechanical once the steam stopped pouring out of the long metallic tail, the vent cooling system finishing off the routine of preventing the rubberbands from melting. Two long tungsten steel fans with oriental paintings were in it's claws, and parts of the metal white body looked half-done given the missing screws and panels.

Slowly, it began to rise upwards on it's bulky robotic feet, turning the kneecaps to move itself to the right to face the flaggergasted crew of marines. Bolero hung his jaw all the way down ( in which it stretched for about 2 feet or so), Crescendo had already brought out her steak knife and fork with a starved look on her face, Gladyr was looking in pure disbelief and horror rubbing his bloody nose, and Prelude, although dazed, was loading up her flare guns.

The weasel-like creature seemed to smiling at the group, as blue steam seemed to flow out of it's backside. Gears collided, pulleys went up and down, rubberbands stretched, paperclips held on tight, dozens and dozens of hidden mechanisms switching on and off. Some of the completed and uncompleted metal rectangled panels opened up along the arms and legs, revealing a armament of specialized sidewinder missiles, awhile 6 circular panels opened on the shoulders to reveal unique box-machine guns with 20 barrels.

To summarize it the best way for those confused, it was a newly off-the-production line mech that ran on steam power and had enough firepower to blow apart a few Navy Battleships. Unfortunately for it, the four Marines before it had lots of experience handling large opponents.

"Since the boss is away, the rest of us can play." Prelude said sinisterly, a cruel look forming in her eyes. "Requiem, take out the autoguns when you get close enough. Gladyr, sorry about your nose, but we need ya to bind those hands so he can't use those fans as melee weapons. Crescendo, if you knock it down, I'll give you extra ration of those watermelon-sized donuts that they hold at the board meetings. Bolero, you focus on the heavy artilliery, don't let one of those missiles sink the ship. And I'll see if I can pull the one operating it out. The metal doesn't seem too strong, so a few punches should do it in."

"Aye, Aye!" Crescendo said, drawing back her right arm as it began to grow fur and grow in size several times over. She planned on trashing the mecha if it came down to it, shame Hoppi was getting a suntan with the other **Zoan weapons** on the other side of the ship.

**"LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!"** Bolero laughed, knowing that he couldn't put a dent in that tin can if he tried, sucking in the moisture in the air until his chest expanded outward, converting water into explosive saliva.

".......whatever....." Without a care, Requiem formed her bow and began to form several arrows, her steely eyes cold and silent to get accurate marks on each gun barrel.

"Why me?" Gladyr sighed, digging into his briefcase for a few rolls of cast bandages.

"GOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Prelude yelled, suddenly rushing in with revolvers ablazing, the flares ricohetting off as she moved in for the epic kill.

Meanwhile....30 floors below deck....

"Help? Please? I fell down hard and I can't get up." Alto moaned, barely hanging on to the railing for dear life with one foot as seamen and captains alike passed by without even noticing his presence.

* * *

Amelia Hikari- Prelude's mother and the former holder of the title as she resigned it, former head of Marine Secret Investigations designed to track down thieves and solve puzzles left by them. She taught her daughter all about riddles and the different kinds of puzzles, training her in the Hina Arts when she was little as well as gun welfare. Highly intelligent, she weilds the wide-area obliterating Light Ball Cannon to crush her enemies.

Amberfish- A adult-sized brown trout-like fish with red stripes and several fins, said to be quite deadly to normal fishermen since it can carve boats apart with one strike.

Prison Zone- A stationary island for the sole purpose of keeping low level pirates and vile crooks under heavy guard until their sentence is up.

Victoria Hunt-A beautiful Vice Admiral woman with uncanny wit and specializes in rapid-slight of hand karate, she holds command over 40 Battleships.

Moe Haggins- A powerful Vice Admiral Long-Arm man with a reputation for winning. To lose is unacceptable, thus he sets the rules that must be obeyed at all times or the person will suffer a terrible death at his hands. Also uses a shovel in combination with his special DF(classified)..

Shadow Cabinet-A Oppositing Front of Senior Marines who act behind the WG's back to conduct experiments and illegal acts, also had been genetically altered or given a powerful devil fruit so their tongues would be silenced.

Shadow Vice/Admiral-A Minister of the Shadow Cabinet, they oversee Buster Calls and other activities, using the black market and other cheap tactics to fund the WG's treasury and are very powerful both in physical strength and material wealth.

Tango- A experimental genius animal with a high IQ and a specialized translator module in his throat to speak like a real human, he has been trained to act and think on his feet like a human would. Ironically, he was a great swimmer before he was fed the Swirly Swirly fruit, a power that causes him to swirl the air or objects around him to project a expanding barrier or toss heavy projectiles. Very good with his hand-gripped modified kodachi.

Zoan weapons -Because of a lack of normal DF users on board (many of the marines are selected on physical stength, agility or talents), the WG had authorized special weapons that 'ate' Zoan-class devil fruits to aid some of the stronger marines in case of a emergency. Of course, when unweilded, the weapons fully morph to animal form and do their own thing since they have free will.


	29. Change in the Ranks, time to practice!

SH:(sighs, looking over his computer again) Blasted Mozilla Firefox virus....it set me back a week, and kept deleting parts of my chapter. I really have to stop promising things I can't keep. But I managed to get it done. And soon, my research on the con will be ready!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, that is Oda's work. But if I did, I would definetely have all the guards on the first floor and leave the rest of Impel Down completely defenseless. I would also give Foxy more screen time and multiply the raccoon-beings for possible pets. (sighs) Now I have to wait longer for a passageway into Merman Island...

Ch 29

_"Day 15. Finally figured out how to clean the toilets after much hassling. Fonzo always made it extra-messy for me. Managed to meet a nice girl though but she shot me down and made me cry for hours by twisting my pinky."_

"YAAAAAAA!" A wooden practice dummy crashed hard into the hardened steel wall, with a deep 5-inch fist-shape hole embedded into it. However, it didn't feel pain, as it's knobby legs and arms moved about on their own, guided by the gears and wiring installed inside of it. It looked like a large 5 foot bamboo stick with thin joints, small arms and wooden duck-feet, but it was surprisingly well-made.

In the Dojo Gym where High Ranking Navy Officers meet, the number of those man-made dummies was immeasurable since they always seemed to get up. But that was restricted to a small area of floor tiles, awhile the rest of the Dojo was meant for the sense of a organized fight between masters.

Of course, the Leviathan's own Dojo was a bit more spacious so it could hold the hundreds of stone statues Alto owned for practicing his throws and tosses, but it certainly lacked the Seaman Referees in black and white striped uniforms who looked over the individual fights. Many of which were sweating up a storm and messing up their pants, overwhelmed by the sheer brutality of the Seven Fangs as they crushed opponent after opponent with their bare hands alone. Even the swordsmen were out cold with their swords bent in several places due to the power of their "mind over matter" philosophy.

Fists flew, kicks rapidly connected, headbutts to the ribs and face, and elbows clashed openly, as the seven fought each other on a equal level once they piled up all the fallen captains and commodores in the room. It didn't matter if they had opened up old wounds, ripped a few gashes of skin, tore deep cuts or pulled on each other's hair, they were too pumped up to care.

One could even say their eyes were like small flashlights, full of valor and personal strife, a few decades worth of battlefield experience to be exact. Once, they and Alto were once classmates in a small marine academy in the West Blue for 'abandoned' children so their parents would live off the checks the World Govenment gave them each week.

Sorta like a private school but with less enforcement, making it easy for Alto to be picked on every day. But then came the time to learn, to shoot a pirate in cold blood, to watch crews of the vermin fall from the plank into the mouths of Sea Kings. Death can do wonders for maturity, to make boys into men the second they pull the trigger on a hapless Cabin Boy bound and gagged.

Well, except Alto, since the wires he had 'designed' before Wapolium was invented could accidentally split the gun apart in a split second. Fonzo and Rebecca endlessly tormented him about it for years after, calling him a sissy and a cowardly weakling despite practically bathing in their enemies blood.

Still, the fact that Welker, Rebecca and Mick were clashing and parrying their own weapons in synchronization said a lot about their unity as captains in the field. No matter how high the bounty, they eliminated the pirate and revolutionary threats, but were not as praised as Alto who practically lounged about reading comic books and drinking root beer.

Welker's boots slammed hard against the metal walking stick, which twirled around behind her to block, disconnecting halfway to parry the deadly bullets with a side-swipe, awhile holding Welker's fronk kick up for him to flip backwards and deliver a torching flash kick. She dropped down with a leg split and curled her body close as it passed over, and dissapied with the strong updraft of a pistol whip motion caused by the strength of Mick's arm. Reconnecting the poles together, she spun it around once, twice to get their attention before slamming it down behind her to lift herself up with a bent vaulting position until she was upside-down with both hands holding it

The four grapplers/hand fighters, on the other hand, were finding new ways to topple and control the situation, to twist and bind bodyparts only to loosen and counter-hold. Fonzo moved rapidly, flash-punching several times in a second awhile leaning forward against Troy's large blubbery arms raised up to defend his face. At the same time, Troy fended off Francis's prayer bead whip with a butt bounce and slam, since Francis's other hand with brass knuckles was stuck inside the folds of pure fat due to a ill-timed punch. Nick was taking the most damage yet looked absolutely fantastic despite the hits and kicks aimed at his face, swiping away with his rapier poised to kill.

It was a epic clash of titans, the mighty auras pushing aside all the stragglers and weaklings still in the room were thrown aside as the seven fought for their very survival. Nothing mattered other than to crush each other and force them to submit defeat, something that they rarely did due to a high degree of arrogance and stubbornness. Which was why when the 6 foot sidewinder missile burst out of the ventilation shaft that was cooling down the heated atmosphere, the seven were pelted by pieces of rug, plastic shards and bits of metal padding as it impaled the nearby wall with the sharp tip in front without detonating.

"What the heck?" Fonzo shouted, miffied by the sudden entrance of the large sidewinder missile that ended up colliding with a wall.

Clik! Clik! Clik! Clik! 4 clasps unlatched along the sides, unlocking the hidden panels to slide open. And that's when the misty green gas spewed out of it like a fire hose, consuming everything in it's path.

"Don't breathe it in!"

"Bah, I can take it since I-" Troy fell over in a slump, crushing a few marines beneath his heavy bulk of flesh and fat. One by one, the others fell into a hapless daze before collapsing with a faint upon the ground, hapless before the hordes of mechanical wooden practice dummies ready for Round 3 as they approached with clubs, hammers, sticks, saws and stakes, ready to beat them senseless.

----------------------------

"Darn it, Bolero! I said take the missiles out! That one flew right over our heads into the venting pipes." Prelude shouted, smoothing out her hair and re-tying it into a ponytail to reduce lack of visibility.

**"CAN'T HELP IT!"** Bolero moaned, lying on the floor in a bit of pain taking the hit. **"BASTARD SMACKED ME WITH THAT TAIL JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO EXHALE."** Slowly, he got up to his feet awhile cradling his sore right arm, growling menacingly at the 30 foot terror that smashed him and Crescendo aside like they were toys.

"Then hit him with your tail, then. Don't make excuses, just let him have it!" Gladyr said, jumping over the downward slash of the fan with his Cast Marcacas at the ready to deal minor dents into the armor.

"That hurt!!!! **Wild Burster**!" Crescendo snarled, her mouth foaming from rage and starvation as she let loose a storm of rapid punches with her Zoan Arm, all of which were deflected by the left fan as it flapped to release a powerful gale to drive her back. Followed up with a barrage of bullets which she countered by placing her furry arm in front as a shield to absorb and block the impact.

Prelude narrowly zig-zagged the frontal giant claw that lashed out, flipping gracefully over it and landed on top before running straight towards the face. Several panels opened up as mini-missile launchers emerged and fired off in rows at her. She barely took notice of them, moving past and slicing them in half horizonally with spare sawblades which they combusted into clouds of green smoke. Requiem inhaled some of it unconconciously and began to cough a little despite not knowing why her throat was getting so dry.

"Lightspeed Kick!!!!" She yelled, once she got close enough to the shoulder joint, leaping off to smash her heavy boot into the center of the chest. The mech shuddered in pain as it was sent flying back a bit once she rebounded off with a backspin, with one clawed foot in the air and both arms scrambling about for balance.

"B-O-O-M BUBBLE!!!!" A strong blast of green bubbles hit the weasel-like being in the back, barely fazing it since the armor was blast-proof and fireproof. Bolero snapped his webbed fingers in irriation, knowing that would happen, and continued spraying his saliva bombs to find any cracks on the mech.

2 small sidewinder missiles shot out of the wrists, spinning rapidly despite the small amount of eco-friendly vegetable oil powering them, towards the mess hall area (door was open). Gladyr unraveled one of his maracas gloves with a frontal punch, sending out a twister funnel of cast to surround and then embrace the two. Encircling and wrapping around them, Gladyr forcibly yanked hard to smash the two missiles together and enclose the package, making the casts 'expand' a bit from the gas and minor explosions, nullifying it in seconds.

"Blast it..." Gladyr grumbled, watching as more and more missile pods opened up along the arms and legs. Stretching a cast around his mouth and nose, he converted it into a makeshift gas mask. "**Sneeze Barrier**...." He mumbled, rapidly punching in front of him to smash the missiles like soda cans under his feet, awhile trying not to breathe in the noxious tear and sleep gas fumes.

"**B-O-O-M BUBBLE BURST**!" Bolero ran in a half-circle to attack the tail directly, only for the weasel mech to spin around again, smashing Crescendo into the steel wall with a dampening crater, the beast arm getting the worst of it. The bubbles, on the other hand, rebounded off the revolving wall of wind and flew back towards Bolero. "CRUD---" He groaned, as the bubbles packed the same amount of TNT needed to destroy a mine shaft, causing him to fly over the edge and into the water. He wasn't really hurt, but the impact of the combined explosions knocked him hard in the chest and face.

"Merman overboard!" One of the lookouts on duty yelled, only to get whacked in the head by his superior officer.

"Don't waste navy personnel rescue calls! He probably went for a swim like all those crazy halfbreeds do." His senior warned the lookout, unaware of the battle on the deck.

"Don't let up, Bolero will be back!" Prelude called out to increase troop morale as she spun-kicked the left bulky leg, denting it by a foot or so but didn't manage to knock it over. She quickly back-flipped a few times to avoid the giant folded fan coming down on her, followed by a rushed thrusting of swipes which could have shattered her bones to dust.

Crescendo shook off some of the light bugs in her vision of sight, her back and left arm slightly sore from the impact. "Bastard....." She gritted her sharp teeth, moving away from the wall in a woosy-like fashion since her line of sight was off balance with blood in her left eye.

The mech seemed to laugh in a rigerous fashion, enjoying the feeling of mayhem as missiles continued to pour out of the shoulders and arms. Requiem, feeling partially left out, opened fire a hailstorm of razor arrows to take out the navigation systems and deactivate the gas mechanisms from the inside. There were just too many though, so many small magnets to overcome. For a few seconds between pausing to reload, pounding headaches in her skull erupted like wildfire and just as quickly ceased when the opposing magnet was punctured.

"If fists don't work, chop it apart!" Prelude snarled, regaining her footing after bending over in a crab walk position to dodge the swing tail. Taking out two tungsten-steel sawblades, she inserted them on her specialized gloves and switched on the power to make them revolve rapidly.

Quickly swerving to avoid a fan swipe, the edges as sharp as a katana blade, she made her way around to the mech's backside awhile signaling for Gladyr and Crescendo to keep it distracted.

"Wild Claw!" With Gladyr on her enlarged arm, she swung hard into the left flank with all the fingers out, tearing a few small gashes into the armor and curled them up to hold her position.

"Casting Uppercut!" Jumping off the arm, Gladyr rapidly punched upwards with his electrified right hand. Luckily he had a case of painkillers on his person this time to prevent the power from consuming him. The weasel-like mech was struck hard in the 'chin', lifted off the ground by a few inches just as Prelude jumped to latch onto the backside.

Sparks flew off the revolving motorized sawblades once she plunged them in, knowing that if anything, the back would be less fortified. Deep slits in the metal hide were cut through, as she made a square-like shape above her head 4 by 3 foot. 'Have to be careful, once I tear it out, I can't touch the sides.' She thought, recalling how a previous dismantling of a mech ended up dealing a deep cut into her left leg because she didn't jump through the opening well enough.

There was also the possibility that the self-defense mechanism for inside entry outside the invisible hatch was self-electrocution. But that was impossible since Crescendo, who now retracted her hand nails, relently began wailing on it like a child does to her father's legs. 'Don't make much sense though.' She thought, switching the saws off and moving them with a slight angle in a crowbar fashion. 'Why gas and rubber bullets? Most of our enemies would go for the killing tools.'

TWANG! With a sharp yank, she threw the heavy piece of metal away onto the wooden floor, yet the mech was too distracted by the deadly barrage of arrows that rapidly punctured the missile reloading clamp sections. Requiem was taking no chances killing the monstrosity's missile supply, unscrewing a few bolts here and there that she could see with the arrow point. Of course, once the fan unfurled to release a gust, her hakama was exposed upon being pushed back, causing some marines who were watching the fight to pass out from intense nosebleeding.

It wasn't as if the seamen gathering around were afraid to help out, but this was the freaking Gandros Marines that were taking on that thing. If they couldn't take it down, who could? Bets and rallies commenced around the crowd, tables were set up and chairs unfolded with umbrellas at the ready. The vendors began to sell off hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, chips, popcorn and other delicacies, seeing the fight as a opportunity to get rich quick.

Requiem tuned out the loud cheering, focusing only on the claw fans once she was absolutely certain that the missile ports were damaged. Her arrows held their form instead of dissapating inside the reloading tubes, which in turn lessened the chance of getting bombarded. Unfortunately at the same time, it weakened her considerably to maintain their form and have less arrows on hand to fire.

That's when the six auto-turrets unloaded several dozen magazines into her before she could set up a strong defensive perimeter for Naamah's Barrier, her prone form twitching and convulsing violently from the blows. A spit of blood shot out of her mouth, the breath knocked out of her bosom chest by the additional bean-bag rounds mixed with the rubber bullets.

"Requiem!!!! That's playing dirty, bub!" Crescendo said, watching her collapse suddenly once the bullet storm died down. She couldn't tell if she died or not, but she could tell she was breathing slowly. Enraged, she jumped head-on to deliver a series of giant punches which the fans absorbed continously with decent accuracy. "Wild Havoc!"

'Keep it busy, Crescendo.' Gladyr thought, carefully trying to avoid the side-swipes the fan was giving off, as he retracted a roll of casting to hold onto in his left hand. Slowly, he revolved it a few times like a stone slinger, taking careful aim of the head before launching it upwards. "Headache Fold." He whispered, as the cast wrapped around the top part of the head and tightened around the eyes and scalp. A small amount of black smoke fumed from the head once the cast bandages compacted some of the wire boxes inside.

'Shoot...the generator must be further inside.' He thought, just as the mech released the fans in both claws so it could reach up to tear the cast wrap off like it was made of toilet paper. He fell back a bit, stunned that his strongest material was ripped so easily. "Crescendo, the fans are off! Take him down!"

"Can't! Little busy here with the lack of long-range protection!" The cabin girl called out, step-siding a barrage of concentrated bullets running in a straight line towards her, making small dents in the hardwood floor.

'Fine time for the captain to get his butt whooped.' Gladyr face-palmed himself in disgust, retracting some of the leftover bandages to make into a smaller glove fist.

-------

Meanwhile, halfway on the staircase....

"Why? Why did they not put in a rope pulley elevator?" Alto gasped, crawling up the stairs on his arms and legs with numerous footprints on his head, shoulders and backside. Another crowd of busybody sailors, officers and management trampled him without looking where their feet were, causing him to hack up a few pints of blood on account that his right lung burned like heck.

------------

"Darn it, Prelude! This fight would have been over if you hadn't messed with the captain!" Gladyr wobbled, as the mech jumped up a few feet in the air and slammed down hard, shaking the bow and the whole deck. Some of the onlookers fell over or lost their footing as the floor tilted side to side, others grew seasick and threw up over the railing.

"Shut it! Can't you see I'm trying to make normal hand holds before jumping in?" Prelude argued back, holding on for dear life as the behemoth shook all over with the aftershocks it made.

With a sharp grunt, the weasel robot snatched the fans out of the ground which in turn caused a ear-splitting screech when Crescendo charged forward with a downward chop. Half of the right arm was decaptiated as the sheer brute strength of her Badger Zoan shattered it like glass, causing the fan to drop down. "**WILD CHOPPING**! EEEEEE-" She was then kicked hard by the stubby feet like a soccer ball into Gladyr, knocking the wind out of both of them as they rolled on their sides half-dazed.

The mech seemed to laugh at their misfortune, clumbering over to strike the final blow with it's good left arm fan. One swing would slice the ship apart if it put full power into the attack.

"**ACHOO Flare lance**!" A sharp lance like blade struck it's shoulder, damaging some of the gears that curved it upright, along with several more grey hollow lances that plunged deep into the chest and legs.

"**Armored punch!!!!"** A thickly armored plated gauntlet made of scales shattered part of the fan, before returning to it's owner via a steel cable pulley.

"**B-O-O-M BUBBLE VOLLEY**!" A series of bubbles shot down from above, disabling the mech's range of free movement as three agile Fishing Fish flew over the deck to sweep another round of punches, lances and explosions.

Shami- Placodermi, a near-extinct type of merman, wears a thick plated suit of armor that he can turn into a deadly weapon. Duels with Henrik since his armor is the only kind that cannot be pierced naturally. Works on Mick's ship as a navigator.

Henrik-Lancefish, similar to a swordfish merman, he sneezes hard so his nose 'pops' off like a missile. Can endlessly replicate the noses and they are capable of cutting through armor, which is why he often duels with Shami. He works as Fonzo's First Mate and is a dual-weild lance specialist.

"**KNOCK ME OVERBOARD, WILL YOU! WELL, THIS TIME I'M PREPARED. PREPARE TO DIE!"**Bolero folded his arms, standing up on the large spiny Flying Fish that he dubbed as "Trident". His minions narrowly avoided a strong claw sweep once the mech shook off the lances as if they were mosquito-bites, then fired off multiple rounds of rubber bullets.

Bobbing and weaving, the three flew valiently in the storm, the bullets grazing or missing entirely as they fired off their individual attacks on the mech with very little results. Not that Shami cared, the armor could withstand a lot of pressure and force if attacked, but he kept rocket-punching anyway to protect the ship as the navy men hooted and hollered to cheer them on.

Those two, along with Bolero, were the three merman allowed to be on the Navy Ship at the time for protection purposes against underwater attacks. The fact that they also had Flying Fish only proved that their skill was uncomparable with the hundreds of mermen in the general ranks of the Navy. Call it racist if one will, but one mermen was the equalilent to fifty armed marines to a experienced Navy Commander.

Flit! Flit! A thick barrage of lances nailed the backside before the mech could turn around, narrowing missing Prelude by mere centimeters of her shoulders and the top of her head. She wanted to curse out Bolero with all the swear words that she learned in the Academy, but knew better than to attract the weasel's attention. So far, Prelude was lucky that it failed to notice a chunk of it's back was missing; otherwise it would use it's tail to pin her down and crush her spine in half.

Still, golden opportunity came a-knocking with that last spread, since the curved lances were only sharp and pointed at the tip. 'Good, good....the tides of change are actually looking up for me.' She thought, reaching up with her right hand and steadying her balance should the mech shift again, latching tightly on the lance. Slowly, she began to stretch out her other hand and latched on to a second one as well farther up. Finally, by performing the traditional Navy Pull-Up, she twisted around so her feet were up and her face was down, a perfect handstand supported by two lance 'pillars'.

"....Showoff...." Requiem said plainly, sore as heck as she tried to focus again on the iron sand piles around her, the particles slowly rising and reforming into her longbow. With the weakness of the Flying Fish, Bolero would have to dive back down for a bit after five minutes, leaving the ship defenseless. Crescendo and Gladyr were out of commission this time, lying out cold on the hardwood floor.

Grabbing the bow, she drew back the 'string' and took careful aim at the turrets awhile it was distracted by Bolero's last pass before diving in. At the same time, Prelude agilely flipped backwards a few feet over the rim and planted her feet firmly once she hit the metal floor.

"....Gabriel Bow Hydra......" Requiem muttered, as the bow shorted in length by a foot for distant accuarcy. Carefully, she began releasing the strand of fillings, converting it into a single arrow that flew gracefully. Flit! Halfway, it split into five smaller, but more spiraling wildly iron arrows that went inside the barrels of the machine-guns and jamming them. Three of which exploded when the firing mechanism occured, shaking the mech internally.

"Ow!" Prelude accidentally hit her head on the narrow ceiling when it quaked, her skull throbbing from the pain. It was a narrow passage, maybe 3 by 4 feet in length and width, with thin wires and gears on either side leading up to a dimly lit oval white pod where the chest cavity was, surrounded by sparking, non-shielded wires. "It's never that easy." She sighed, untying her shoelaces on both sneakers.

"**B-O-O-M BUBBLE ROAD**!" Bolero yelled, flying back up again after a minute of rest for his Flying Fish, spewing out a bunch of transparent green bubbles that covered the floor beneath the mech instead of clinging to it. "**REQUIEM, 1 MINUTE**!"

Requiem nodded, understanding the notion as she pulled back the string again, only for the weasel to snatch back the metal fan and thrust it forward hard. Even by instinct, she closed her eyes just as the strong winds pushed her back, disabling the bow and any arrows that she could produce. She held her ground though, the ribbons in her hair slowly unraveled in place. Crossing her arms, she formed a thick arrowhead-shaped shield of iron in front of her to part the wind.

"Let's see what you have, Mr. Evil Mechanic." Prelude said, crawling on hands and knees with her shoes on both hands. She could use one of her sawblades to clear a path, but the oval pod could not just be a station to hold the pilot, but also the power source. And if it ran on what she expected, the ship might get blown apart.

Slowly, she grasped the first wire with both shoes and yanked it downward, snapping it apart in twine. The electric flow was severed just then, protecting her from backlash as she stepped back just in case. "One down...dozens to go." She then proceeded to take the wiring grid apart one at a time using the same method, using the thick rubber soles to negate the effects.

"It seems to be slowing down a bit." Shami noticed, seeing that the reaction times and the movement of the arms were a few seconds off than before. "**Wall of Fists**!"

"And that thin girl went inside, you sure she can survive that explosion?" Henrik said, worried that Prelude might not survive. "**Lance Storm**! Achhoooooooo!"

"**POSITIVE. THAT KID COULD SURVIVE A BUSTER CALL GIVEN INITATIVE**." Bolero laughed, sucking up plenty of moisture as he guided his Flying Fish for a sharp turnaround. "**DON'T LET UP**!"

".....**Gabriel Bow Reform**...." The shield evaporated and morphed back into a bow for her to hold, her fingers holding the string tightly this time. She had to take out that hand before it would unleash a gale to knock Bolero and the others off their steeds.

"W-what, what's going on?" Prelude bounced a few times a few times, breaking a few wires in the process but also stubbing her poor knees. The impact of the mermen was finally making some progress making deeper and deeper dents in the thick armor. "Ow again." She moaned, rubbing her head as she made her way past the last wire grid and approached the pod cautiously from behind. Leaving behind a shoe, she reached for her flare gun and pulled it out of the holster in preparation.

And that, was when all the bubbles popped at once, nearly blinding the masses stationed nearby with a enormous flash of light and a thunderous roar, destroying the legs instantly and melting the bottom half, causing it as well as Prelude (who ended up falling once the center of gravity shifted to the right downward) to tip over.

And wouldn't you know it, but at that very same time, Alto stumbled out of the entryway door onto the main deck where it was about to fall. "Alright Prelude, you just earned 20 **demerits** for assaulting a superior officer and 15 for burning my uniform. The jacket alone costs 2 million Berri for each replacement!" He yelled, slightly out of breath after such a terrible experience running up all those stairs with a limp leg.

"**CAPTAIN! ABOVE! ABOVE**!" Bolero hollered as loud as he could despite the fact his Flying Fish mistaken his words as a order, carrying him upwards higher and higher.

"Huh?" Alto leaned back his head a bit, then his eyes bulged out in panic over the colossus giant that was coming right down on him. "Oh crud...." But at the same time, his hands flew upwards in a cradling motion at the backside. Thick black oil seeped down as dozens of multiple slices appeared on the armor's surface, as a gale force wind erupted from the floor in a explosive updraft knocking Alto's glasses off his face.

The heavy mech was lifted high in the air, dismantling before the marine's eyes piece by piece, torn asunder by the vicious but unknown attack. Prelude was literally bouncing off the walls which were breaking apart, luckily she avoided getting sliced into chunks of human flesh in the process.

"Was that....**Air Toss**?" Alto stared upwards, gazing at the blurry mess of metal that littered the Blue below on both sides of the ship. He stared at his now extremely swollen and slightly bloody hands, the hidden wires had tightened enough not only to cut off circulation, but also dug a bit into the skin. "Ow..ow...ow...does anyone have some band-aids?" He asked, now noticing that there were hundreds of marines just sitting around and watching the fight.

"Here." A reel tape was tossed over to him which he caught, as Gladyr slumped over on his side with a black eye and puffy lips. "Don't use too much of it, I'm under budget as it is right now."

"Thanks....what's that screaming?" Alto accepted it graciously, wrapping the wrappings around each finger and heard a shrill yell coming down. Hence, two seconds later, he was brutally plowed 3 feet into the floor as the heavy metal boots stomped him hard after much speed and momentum falling from the sky."Pppppaiiiiinnnnnn...." He groaned in agony, as Prelude stepped off him no worse for wear.

"Oh, you're back, captain?" She chuckled, amused that she would land on him so easily.

"Prelude...." He gritted his teeth, trying to pull himself out of the makeshift hole.

"Yessss....." She smirked, hoping for a pay raise after defeating whoever was in the pod. Which btw was floating in the water in which the marines who lost interest were using netguns to reel in.

"You. Latrine duty. All toilets on the supercarrier and our ship. Two months." Alto grumbled, wiggling out slowly as Bolero and co floated downward onto the deck before dismounting, the Flying Fish then went back underwater to catch some lunch for themselves.

"Whaaaaa?" Prelude was taken back by this announcement, frozen stiff from shock with her mouth agape.

"HA HA!" Bolero laughed and pointed at her misery, then yanked his captain out of the floor. "**YOU'LL FIND THAT THOSE THINGS HAVEN'T BEEN TOUCHED IN YEARS**!"

"Yes, yes, I'm certain they're disgusting." Alto sighed, brushing himself off of splinters and sawdust before noticing the crowd that was taking it's leave. "And what happened awhile I fell down nearly fifty flights of stairs? For you guys to launch a giant squirrel preemptive strike down on me, it was overkill at best."

"**IT LOOKED LIKE A WHAT NOW**?" Bolero scratched his head, not sure what he was talking about since he never took wildlife classes in the academy. "**ANYWAY, THAT THING CAME DOWN OUT OF NOWHERE AND ATTACKED US. WE MANAGED TO KNOCK IT OVER WHEN YOU CAME OUT.**"

"So....who's controlling it then?" Something very familar about that story reminded Alto of something, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

".....no idea...." Requiem said, poking the petrified statue of Prelude as a few seagulls overhead went to the bathroom on her shoulders and hair.

"Heave-ho! Heave-ho!" Tthe sailors that were using netguns were pulling hard in straight lines, their muscles strained to the limit dragging the heavy oval white sphere up the edge of the supercarrier. There were probably hundreds of now bored crewmen who took part in the lifting, since some of them had bet on the mech to win and needed the extra cash of salvaging and selling the parts.

It took about five minutes to yank it over the edge and roll it over to where Alto was comfortably sitting in his easy chair, slurping a ice cold root beer. Crescendo was taken to the Med Lab since she suffered more internal damage than the others since her back was that of a normal human and Prelude was carried away still frozen in place by a group of her fanboys (which was small).

Before anyone could get out a crowbar or a sledgehammer, a slit appeared in the center, followed by two bulbous doors that excreted white steam. And out fell a young man obsured in the steam. "Oh thank god! The machine stopped moving at last."

"And who are you to land on this SuperCarrier?" Gladyr asked, holding onto his ice pack and pressing it on the sore spots of the back of his head.

The teen stood up, a good 5'2" young male with freckles, with 4 long black straight whiskers sticking out each cheek. His snow white hair was mostly combed back, save for two small triangluar 'ears' made by Crisco gel that were molded permanently. Strangely enough, even though he wasn't fat at all, his head was a bit wider than most newcomers, and his arms were lean but firm to handle gearwork. That, and he was wearing a Lieutenant uniform with a fancy silver Rolex watch.

"Sir, 7th in command Lieutenant** Hymn **at your service!" Hymn saluted, hoping that his entrance wasn't too surreal for the crew members. "I apologize for my mech, once I landed, it shifted to auto-pilot and blocked me from controlling it."

"**YOU'RE NOT HYMN! HYMN WAS AT LEAST 23 YEARS AND HAD BONE SPIKES ON HIS HEAD, AS WELL AS WORE RED BODYPAINT ON HIS SKIN**." Bolero accused the new guy, knowing that he still had to beat the real Hymn to an inch of his life for using him as a guinea pig for his catapult test.

The new Hymn blinked, a bit confused by Bolero's outburst and high voice. "Huh? Didn't High Command tell you? That Hymn was found dead after a assassination attempt over in **Canhan Island **months ago. Apparently he was in a farewell parade with the elected Mayor for helping out with a large construction project when one of the fired Union members shot him at least five times in the chest upon intrusion with the parade road. It was kinda sad, but he forgot his body armor that day. So I was selected to take his place after a long and hard search for those who represent the Title of Hymn 'Passive yet strong externally, gifted in the art of building a better world'. Needless to say, I was picked out, so I took the **HypErmine Vr. IV** out for a test run over here, lost control as one of the prototype jets went out, fell down here and that's all there is to it."

"No freaking way. Hymn always had on that stupid bulletproof vest when on a mission, no gun could take him out that fast." Gladyr said, shaking his head in disbelief that his comrade in arms was dead. "Any word on the funeral?"

The new Hymn shrugged, not very sure himself, "Got me. I heard that there was a hundred gun salute and a long procession of prayers, but the World Government keeps these matters hush-hush in the long run. Anyway, pleased to meet all of you. Please take care of me." He bowed down low, as Alto, Gladyr, Requiem and Bolero did the same in a sign of respect.

THUMP!!! "Well if it isn't the crazy crew making a huge mess of my new warship carrier!" Moe said, jumping down from the 3rd upper deck balony and landing hard enough to nearly shudder the ship with his immense strength.

"Shadow Vice-Admiral, I can explain-" Alto stood up and tried to talk sense to him, only for Moe to suddenly close the distance between them in a split-second and clamp his large 1 foot hand over his mouth to silence him.

"Shut it, rookie. I expected better when I brought you aboard my ship, but it seems the rumors are true. You take down strong pirates but you leave a trail of destruction in your wake. And even this time, you end up wrecking parts of my baby just because a new crewmember shows up." Moe growled, obviously ticked off by Alto's lack of proper respect towards superior officers.

"Truthfully I'm a shipwright. Mechs are just a hobby of mine." Hymn said, noticing that Alto's face was turning blue. "I'm not much of a fighter but if you would release that guy, I'll patch up the damage that my mech had done in self-defense."

"Bah! It took over 200 of the finest shipwrights to build this thing in under a month after Ace was captured. There's no way a squirt like you could manage all the trouble spots." Now Alto's face was turning green and slowly was losing consciousness from lack of fresh oxygen.

Hymn smiled, pointing to himself, "Then obviously you got lousy shipwrights. A ship like this would be made in half the time if I was given the materials and blueprints, all done by myself. Let him go and I'll prove it."

Moe grimaced, disgusted that such a child would dare to challenge his authority, so he released Alto with a light shove back on the ground, breathing heavily as the color went back to his face. "Fine. Do it." Then he turned to face the onlookers with a nasty scowl. "What the hell were you morons doing, taking a coffee break? Next time we're attacked, either take down the enemy or get off my freaking ship!!!!!!!" He yelled, pumping his fists in the air and stomping madly at the fleeing marine seamen who tried to keep their faces hidden for the sake of avoiding serious demerits.

"Best to get started then." Hymn said, grinning in amusement as he brought out a wrench, a screwdriver, a small hammer, pliers, mini-saw, metal file, scissors, and measuring tape, each of the tools held between each finger in both hands. "As for you guys, I want ya to go over to Room A23 for a bit awhile I work my magic. You look real tired after getting smacked around after all and that place does have beds for laying on."

"Yeah, Prelude does look a bit worn out." Alto said, finally noticing how stiff she had become. "Bolero, can you carry her? I'll be going to the captain's route since my legs are sore from hitting stairs." Stretching out, he slid his hands into pockets and went into a sliding door entrance on the side of the wall.

"**OH SURE, LEAVE ME HOLDING THE NUTCASE**." Bolero muttered, picking up the prone sniper and sucking in the tendrils so they won't poison her, as they went down the stairs followed by Requiem who felt a bit light-headed for some odd reason.

"Fix-It Mode, activate." Hymn's eyes turned a brilliant robin's eye blue as he ran down the floor, paving and nailing down any loose floor boards or adjusting broken bolts to the masts.

----------

1 day later....

"He certainly knows how to repair a SuperCarrier. Don't you think so, Moe? He even waxed and refurnished the floor and the broken cannons." Shadow Admiral Tango smirked, wagging his tail in a amused fashion. There wasn't even a trace of the previous battle, since Hymn had used quite a bit of the scrapmetal/adam wood and melted it down, then reforged it to go over the holes and broken floorboards.

"Lousy, stinking Gandros Navy...." Moe grunted, folding his arms in total disgust over the fact that some newcomer defied his beloved ship with better handiwork than his men. "Why on earth should we even let them do the mission? Because of them, our seven top assassin captains are in the Med Lab from that shipwright's near-deadly gas, strucken with severe flu symptoms and the like."

"Tsk, tsk, my dear Vice-Admiral. You worry too much. Mezzo alone could handle the job if he wasn't going after that vile pirate. Besides, their own respectable crews are taking care of the recovery even as we speak. The sooner Alto is out of your hair, the sooner we can destroy Whitebeard's reinforcements." Tango said, noticing how the deck was also dusted and free of the usual litter of cola cans and ramen packages.

"And what of you? Surely you don't plan on undertaking that." Moe said, suspicious of the talking cat's motives in the war.

"I do what I must. Once those seven are revived, I expect you to follow my orders to the letter through the documents I left on your desk. You are dismissed until farther notice." Tango said, turning away and falling into a hidden trapdoor which sealed back up.

"Jerk." Moe snorted, punching his fists together hard enough to cause the atmosphere around him to form into a sphere before exploding outward by several feet in all directions. "He may have the ebilness needed to be a shadow admiral, but I bring the pain to all those who oppose justice."

-------------------

It was a simple task the next morning to arrive in the small room with completely white ceilings, floors and walls, built enough to hold about 50 people but not too narrow. Hollow mahogany desks with steel thin supporter beams lined up by 5 for each row, as well as small, wooden chairs that looked a bit rusted and dimly lit lights overhead covered in soundproof glass.

It was also a bit drafty as the very short pleated skirt keep lifting up on Prelude as she tried to hide her pink strawberry underwear from prying eyes. 'I hate this stupid uniform....' She thought bitterly, as she was wearing a old fashioned female sailor suit blouse with a blue jean collar with three stripes.

Crescendo and Requiem also wore the same uniform, but theirs were more to exact measurements made by professional tailors unlike Prelude's attempt to knit one by hand. Prelude's eye had that nasty twitch again eyeing Requiem's more than obvious 'growth' as they sat down on the chilly chairs. Requiem, however, tuned out everything around her as she tied a few more ribbons into her hair, noting the ghosts of previous marines had taken root in the room ready to learn.

Alto and Gladyr, on the other hand, were in their professional navy blue military three button uniforms. Gladyr still had to slouch a bit since it was so tight on his sore back. Bolero, being a merman with no sense of fashion, broke his chair and decided to sit on his more sturdy desk with only his boxer shorts on.

"It feels like forever since I put this on, and it still fits." Alto said, taking his seat to the left of Crescendo, taking pride in his old Academy Uniform. "I was sure I out-grew it."

"**BAH....HUMAN CLOTHING IS SO WORTHLESS FOR A MERMAN OF MY STATURE. WHY ARE WE FOLLOWING THE RUNT'S ORDERS ANYWAY**?" Bolero snarled, since he hated going to school in general.

"Yeah, I was at the firing range testing out the Elephant Gun when you dragged me over here, Captain. Venting out my frustrations over touching the foul toilets with my hands is the only thing that prevents me from shooting a flare down your throat." She shivered, recalling the nasty brown stains on the walls, the gross floor juice, obscene graffiti, paper towels torn off and displaced, clogs in several pipes causing water to spray her in the face, etc. "I'll never look at the girl's wonderfully clean bathroom the same way again because of you...."

"That's what you get for burning one of my lucky jackets." Alto said, already drawing a few Sea Kings on his desk out of boredom. "Be glad that I didn't assign Barnacle duty as well."

".......duty....." Requiem repeated for no reason.

"Grrr......" Prelude was about to bash her chair into her captain's soft head when Hymn came in wearing a black business suit with power tie and gray slacks. "It's about time, jerk!"

"Sorry, sorry, this ship is so freaking big." The new shipwright said, wiping some of the oil stains off his slacks. "Anyway, as I've been informed, you guys are going on a top-secret undercover mission into a pirate convention that happens once every few decades."

"And how did you know that?" Alto raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Your merman told me, that's how." Hymn smirked, looking straight at the Lionfish hybrid who cowered a little in fear.

"**HE OFFERED ME A WHOLE TROUT, I COULDN'T HELP IT!"** Bolero screamed at the top of his lungs when the others glared at him, his voice shaking up the tiles a little.

"As I was saying," Hymn drew back attention to himself before the others could knock Bolero out for a loop. "Although I have no skills as a fighter, I am a certified spy agent as my second profession. Unlike your guy whose second profession was a bridge builder."

Taking out a piece of chalk, he scribbled out a drawing of a nasty pirate ship on the slightly tilted chalkboard. "I have been assigned by Moe himself to teach you the basics of being and acting like roughneck pirates. Including hygiene, casual dress, body language, weapon handling and other areas of the pirate code."

That earned him a desk to the face. Which knocked him to the floor in a dazed state of confusion.

"What?" Prelude sternly said, a deep vein popping on the side of her head as the others looked at her oddly, "Didn't I say I wasn't going to play pirate? Just because some new guy replaced the shipwright and fought a epic battle doesn't mean I changed my mind."

"Yes...but he just said he didn't have much in the way of combat skill. Therefore he's basically a normal human. Look, he's bleeding." Gladyr said, getting out of his chair and started to patch up the unfortunate soul.

"Which is another reason we don't need this guy. He'll only be good as a meat shield and I'm not depending my life for him to save the day." Prelude scoffed, taking a empty chair to sit on. Requiem frowned a bit since one of the ghosts was cast aside like a damp rag.

Flit! "Ow!" Prelude cried out before slapping her neck, as a small tiny dart fell to the floor. Hymn got back up to his feet thanks to Gladyr's support, his left hand touching one of the button's on his Rolex.

"I anticapited this, owch, and came up with a strategy." Hymn moaned, rubbing his sore head as the sniper's vision blurred and swam through layers of memorizing colors. "As a secondary spy profession expert, I came prepared. Should have brought a helmet though."

"I swear....I will kil-" Prelude shifted her murderous gaze upon the shrimp with whiskers before her eyes turned to hearts, her sneer into a lovestruck grin. "Oooooooohhh...."

"That's the first time I've seen her look like that in a long, long time." Alto whispered to Requiem, leaning in close to her.

"......weak......" Was all she said in response, not fully getting why the so-called spy was teaching them. All she needed was a bag of iron sand and she could take down the entire convention herself if needed.

"Essence of Bishie, a liquid that causes hallucinations." Hymn partially explained, glad that Prelude had been fully neutralized. "Now, Prelude, will you attend the convention with us?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" Prelude hollered, completely in a trance as she saw Hymn as a incredibly hot, muscular and suave bishonen with shining teeth and cool hair.

Hymn slapped a long wrench that he produced against open palm, grinning ear-to-ear over that sentence. "Excellent! With that, Pirate Acting 101 has begin for most of the next two months before the 3 day event."

* * *

_Hymn's Lesson Chart for 1st Week_

_Lesson 1: "Arrrrrrrrr"_

_As the first test, all of them were expected to produce a simple sound that low ranked pirates use in growling. Observation of subjects seemed to be normal at first, Prelude had to be injected a second time after waking up and performed the line with gusto. Bolero, being a former pirate of a one-merman crew (since he could hunt and navigate with fish with help of local mermaids), portrayed the word well enough but I may have to use a muzzle to keep him from shaking the ship._

_Requiem, on the other hand, barely even acknowledged me or said the word, meaning that she still doesn't recognize me as a crew member. Alto, Gladyr and Crescendo didn't take long to say the word but I couldn't help think why the little girl was looking at me with a starved look on her face doing so. They may need more practice to sound more convincing since they sound like dorks._

_Lesson 2: Poor hygiene_

_Luckily, the Captain hates needles so much that he absolutely hates the dentist so he's exempt due to bad breath and lack of soap on his person. Being the second day, I had asked them to turn off their showers and roll in some garbage to acquire the 'special' scent that many uncultured seabaring crooks carry. According to my spy research, fresh water is very rare on pirate ships, so the crew takes them a few times a year._

_No one, save for Alto who liked to be in the shower for 45 minutes each day, objected and dove into the trash bin. Prelude seemed to stink the worst and thus everyone got nose plugs to cut off the stench, save Bolero since his nose is a bit more bottle than human-like. Requiem was absolutely oblivious to the smell for some reason, not even taking it in fully. My superiors seem to believe that these guys are crazy and I'm getting to understand why._

_Lesson 3: Picking fights for no reason_

_Oh boy...after announcing this out loud as today's lesson, I realized Prelude didn't get a dose of the bishonen serum. She completely crushed several bones in my arm and plowed my head through the desk, her state of mind in a absolute frenzy. Crescendo and Bolero also fought rashly before I could explain how it worked, destroying nearby walls and burning some of the seamen recruits in the process with their individual powers._

_Hard to imagine that my mech beat them up even though I couldn't control it properly. Requiem and Alto faced off against Prelude to save me from being thrown into a giant shark-like Sea King's open jaws, Alto got clobbered instantly with a strong nosebleed since the wind was a bit strong today, but Requiem managed to save me from certain doom by causing the Sea King's skull to collapse from within. I concluded the lesson right there and hid under my bed's covers for the rest of the day._

_Lesson 4: Letting a pet run loose_

_After getting over my crazy female induced trauma, I chatted it up with Alto to not let her out of his sights and started the class with a simple plan this time. Since all pirates have at least one pet to take care of, I wanted to meet it close up. Crescendo introduced me to him. The hard way. Ever had a iron vise clamp down on your head? Well, my experience was similar as the small mallet chomped down on me. Needless to say, I blacked out for a while after smelling his onion breath._

_Lesson 5: Singing off-key_

_Okay, I thought that being eaten was the worst thing that ever happened to me. I was mistaken today once more as Bolero started his own version of "Bink's Sake". Worst shrill screaming I've ever heard, I thought my ears were going to bleed and my eardrums would pop. Sure, I've heard my share of bad singing from other pirates when infiltrating to eliminate their captain, but his broke Gladyr's glasses. Everyone else did fine, but I was a bit worried about Requiem who couldn't carry a tune. She keep looking at that same stupid dust speck on her desk and mumbled nonsense. Crescendo was eating something very, very gross as I wrote up their grades, it was quite disturbing to my psyche._

_Lesson 6: Cheating_

_This was definitely the hardest part, Alto could not stop repeating that he wasn't a cheater. I tried to convince him and Prelude, who even under the serum's influence, that pirates HAVE to cheat in order to win battles. Can't show them the new weaponry otherwise. Gladyr and Bolero had to train them a bit in the art of poisoning, to trick with pointing, mocking them to lose their cool, and learning to use the surroundings a bit better._

_Hard to believe the old man had the skills to cheat, but it does explain why he pulls rank over me. Alto ended up foaming at the mouth for about a hour before we found the antidote, so Crescendo jumped on his limp body like a trampoline to pass the time. In any case, since tomorrow is Sunday, I'll give them the day off to evaluate before going any farther into teaching them the fine art of piracy._

_Operation: Pending as the crew seems unteachable as a group._

* * *

"Unacceptable, Hymn." Tango growled, curling the manuscript copy of the written report into a hovering ball that tightened and shrunk down to marble size as the air pressure compacted within. The War Room was completely empty, as most of the captains had either been deployed to different locations for the epic battle or to Marine Headquarters. "In 5 more weeks, the convention will begin and Whitebeard may get a giant amount of reinforcements because of it."

"I can't help being a lightweight." Hymn shivered, holding onto his crutch like it was the only thing supporting him. The top of his head, his left hand and his ankles were bandaged up with a leg cast, and had a left eye patch to cover the black eye. "Prelude beat me up again when I wasn't paying attention."

"That's not the point. I asked you to train them but you're teaching them the complete opposite of what pirates actually do. Are you trying to blow the assignment?" Tango's tail whipped around in displeasure, wondering if he could just send the guy overboard.

"To be honest, those 6 lessons over this past week were the starting point, sir. Once Sunday is over, I will turn them into fake pirates who will plunder and be as nasty as possible." Hymn sweated, knowing that if he failed, he would have to pay over 450 million berri in damages to the ship. "In fact, I have even made field studies and trips to different pirate locales so they could blend in and establish themselves with the new "wanted" posters once they put on their gear and new civilian clothing."

"Yes, I heard about that. You used Shadow Cabinet funds to secretly ambush and abduct a 400 million berri-worth crew, hiding them in a undisclosed prison." Tango's tail flopped, annoyed that such a low rank soldier had made such plans in advance after arriving on his ship. "The ship itself will be dismantled and refitted to the Leviaton so it looks the same. Thus, if the crew screws up like I believe they will, they will have access to all the weaponry the Navy has to offer for a quick getaway."

"Thank you, sir. I will repair the certain damages to the ship and then remodel it into a pirate vessel for the time being." Hymn said, saluting respectively to the cat who destroys pirate fleets for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"Very well, but do not tell the others of the true purpose of this 'experiment'. Dismissed." Tango turned his back, completely ignoring the teen now as he spun his paws in rotation, jumping several feet and kept on jumping as if the air was solid to spring up on.

-----------

Weeks passed, and the lessons grew tougher and harder for the crew. Especially when they were expected to limit their abilities, and try to trick other pirates into accepting them as the real deal. Some times it worked, other times they were chased out by angry mobs who wanted nothing better but to hang them and gut their bellies.

Of course, Alto was the one most struggling since he really, really didn't want to kill anyone and Prelude was the quickest learner due to the serum's effects. But that didn't stop Hymn from doing slide-shows with a Den Den Mushi projector, bringing in unique prisoners to give speeches, start up courses on making barricades against rowdy pirates and other manners of blending in.

Bolero ended up with a nearly unbreakable muzzle that could only be opened with a key, which ticked him off to no end since he couldn't see a thing. Hoppi was sent to one of the infiltration teams, which were to pose as normal pirate crewmembers, about 600 or so, thus insuring that Crescendo who practically begged on hands and feet could go. In basic terms, with those two troublemakers out of the way, all seven of the ten Gandros Ranks could enter the convention and raise heck.

Of course, there was just one small little mistake during the training, something so insignifant that none of the Gandros Navy members knew about due to the Shadow Cabinet's meddling. One that changed the face of the status of the World Government: Crescendo, along with 300 new recruits, went on a field trip to Impel Down to study the fighting habits 33 hours before Ace's execution. But that's...another story to tell.*

* * *

*Drode: In other words, it will take months before he would know what happens in Impel Down...(runs away from SH carrying a hacksaw)

Sneeze Barrier-Gladyr's special gasmask creation ability.

Lance Storm- By rapidly sneezing, he can constantly launch a fierce offensive of lances to puncture thick armor.

Wall of Fists-Being detachable, he can let fly a heavy barrage of metal crunching punches , capable of shattering average men's bones in one hit.

BOOM Bubble Road-Covers the ground with long 'fuse' bubbles with short explosion ranges.

Air Toss- A no-touch, no strength Jijutsu move that can tear a man to ribbons with the riht weapon. Master Class move, but not easy to replicate. Hazardous side-effect to hands afterward.

Hymn-The Windy Mechanic, the title goes to those who are opposed to killing but prefer to build at a expert rate. Being 14 years, he is the youngest Hymn so far, loves Ermines and is completely weak without a mech to battle in. Specializes in gas and rubber bullet weapon building for his mechs.

Canhan Island- A desolate citidel that had fallen on hard times, until the old Hymn visited to reconstruct it from the ground up.

HypErmine- A Ermine-shaped mech, made in several different models and sizes due to Hymn's love of the wonderful weasel, specializes in anti-riot weaponry and tough exterior shell. It is also capable of short flight using steampunk technology, using large fans to guide it.


	30. Why must the Good die young?

SH: (sighs) Over three months...has it really been that long? I originally wanted to put this up in early February as I was a bit distracted by college typing classes. But then, the message board where I had it up had a problem taking in all that text and deleted most of it. Which is why I must thank Kilnorc, whom I owe a large, large debt of gratitude to for helping me out since I am not capable of rewriting the same thing twice in a perfect fashion. Thank you so much, Kilnorc! Ah yes, Malchior also asked me to introduce two of his characters, so I also will give credit to him since he asked for help.

Drode: (cracks whip, slapping him in the back) Enough talk, time to get you back into shape!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Any pirates mentioned in 'cosplay' are the property of other authors, whom I wish to promote since I love their work and hope for more updates. If anyone feels offended, I will erase the reference. A lot of credit goes to Kilnorc for helping me with the story (which is long) as for giving me the idea of the Fragments. And for crying out loud, Luffy, get up! Hurry and save Ace!

* * *

Osiris Island. A small to moderate island with a lot of desert surrounding it for a hundred miles, with a flourishing oasis in the center. It was said that it was a haunted island, filled with tall, tan-brazen men and women with 'panther heads' and white toga loins. Not to mention the giant stone sphinxes and huge pyramids that is being aided by top-of-the-line steam technology instead of slaves.

Marble palaces, small lakes, pillars with ancient hieroglyphics, and carved statues of the gods were everywhere in the oasis, as the common folk drank and praised the gods for their bounty and good harvest. Here, in the protection of the World Government, they felt safe after centuries of torment and brutal service. It was also a very good locale for the astrologists to hang out since the skies were incredibility clear at night so all the stars would be out for viewing.

That, and the hundreds of thousands of cats and crows that loomed about in droves, feasting on the finest of carrion and fish and treated like royalty every day of their short lives. It was said the rulers of the island decreed the animals to be the protectors of the island, the natural defense of fauna that drives away all uninvited intruders. And due to the atmosphere of the island and the food they ate, their size increased in density and height as a result, becoming incredibly deadly as a result.

According to the sundials that were all over the island, crafted with ancient numerical symbols so when the shadow rested on them the time would be know, the incident happened around 2:20 pm. Namely, the time when all the civilians would go down to their knees with head bowed down to pray to the large crow statues for the blessing of rainfall and a good nights sleep. No one noticed the earth tremor before it was too late, as the lake suddenly exploded north of them to flood part of the oasis valley.

And then, the carnage of a hundred thousand giant Sea Kings burst forth all over the island from the deep pools of water and caverns intertwined with the Blue's natural currents, drowning some caught up or sweeping the bodies away like stiff bowling pins. The palace guard, the men wearing the jaguar head-cowls and masks, swiftly went into action soon after with their curved swords and spears to try and protect the safety of the villagers. Unfortunately, their weapons were somewhat obsolete compared to the brute force and sheer mass of the sea monsters as they spread their water territory.

Scholars went around protecting the ancient paper scrolls from getting wet, astrologists closed up the heavy gates to the houses where the telescopes and star charts were held and traders ran as fast as they could to the boats to cast off. One of the Sphinx was instantly crushed into pebbles and dust as a elongated sea king with a beak smashed it in order to pass through, and the pillars were toppled over like dominos as a lizard-like sea beast whipped around with it's spiny tail. To say the least, it was a unnatural war between humans and the fish of the deep, plus the crows and cats that joined in every once in a while only to be repelled like lice.

And among the overlooming masses was him, standing on top of a super-slimy brown eel Sea King with black stripes. Anyone who dared to challenge was instantly electrocuted by seperate parts of the body, severing and burning the hapless humans as it approached the center of the city oasis, a grand silver temple with over seven hundred followers wearing the skins of panthers and holding on spears.

But to him, they were nothing. Jumping off the head of the eel, which turned to chase off fresh livestock freed from the herds, he flew towards the group with a permanent smirk on his patchwork face.

"Attack!!!!" The lead commander of the offensive yelled, increasing the morale of his men and women soldiers to cry out in a war chant. Arrows, spears, rocks, bolas, swords, a assortment of weapons from ages past as thrown straight at the cloaked figure with the two black wings made of his own robe.

"PaThEtIc." The flying wall of death was instantly repelled at the sound of his voice, dispersing the weapons in several directions away from him. He seemed undeterred from his mission, his only goal was right in front of him, glaring with sinister narrowed slits with thick mascara.

Settling down and drawing the 'wings' back into his body, he approached the target at a calm, collected pace with hands in both pockets completely defenseless. The angry, irritated soldiers who just watched their special onslaught fail came at him with daggers, flails, maces and other short-ranged weaponry. He made no movement at all to their advances, just continued to walk as they stupidly ended up killing one another as if they passed right through him.

Not a drop of their blood ended up on his clothes either, and those who went separately swiped and slashed at him to no avail. They tore open his clothes, his skin, his muscles, but it was if he didn't care in the least. To be more precise, he didn't even bleed when they cut him, nor could they chop off his limbs or head. And then, they realized their skin was melting and dripping to the ground.

"Stop, you're wasting your time on him." The one he seeked called out in a commanding tone, her voice stern like the firm marble pillars around her. She was dressed with white robes, adjourned in the most brightest of gold jewelry with fancy gems, but she didn't seem to mind the 200 lbs of extra weight on her well-toned body figure. Her guards, just realizing that she had called to them, backed off quickly before realizing that their feet were melded to the floor. As in, sandal and flesh had become one with the stone, and soon their legs were getting swallowed up by the floor as well.

"LaDy BaStEt, HoW nIcE tO sEe YoU, oR aRe YoU oNe Of HeR lItTeR cLoNeS?" The man asked, sniggering as the more vicious wounds closed all over his body.

"The latter, and like my great-great grandma, I specifically don't want a dead-beat like you on my island. Why aren't you in the New World anyway?" The one known as Bastet frowned, her deep tan brazen against the summer rays.

"DeTaIlS, dEtAiLs, Is It So WrOnG tO vIsIt A oLd 'FrIeNd' AfTeR mOnThS oF eNdLeSs ChAoS?" He said, approaching her even quicker now, closing the distance between them in seconds before clamping his cold hands on her shoulders.

"Get off!" She struggled to push him off, but his grip was like steel vises, tightening like pythons to cut off blood circulation to her arms. Her grandmother and mother were very strict in her upbringing, telling her tales of this person and his power. She didn't want to believe them at first, being one out of twenty children to succeed as the new Bastet, Queen of the Island and all it's creatures.

"YoUr SiSteR, mOrRiGaN, wAs It? ShE tOlD mE yOu HaVe It WhEn I cAmE hErE. sUcH a ShAmE i BlEw HeR aNd HeR CrOw ArMy To PiEcEs."

"Oh, So YoU dO kNoW hEr?" He said cruelly, watching the bitter, glaring hateful eyes that she set on him upon hearing that name. "ShE cAlLeD yOuR nAmE wHeN i FiNiShEd HeR."

"You monster!" She yelled, her right palm glowing a bright pink as the staff morphed into a sword. The sword rapidly grew in size and density, yet the weight stayed at a light 10 lbs, which she then swung at him to cleave him apart.

"Ah, ThE **mYsTeRy FrAgMeNt**, jUsT wHat I wAs LoOkiNg FoR." He made no effort to dodge or repel the blade, as it chopped him through the arms and spine all the way through. He also didn't stop the arrow that went right through his top of his skull and the bottom right of his jaw. And yet, he didn't look even the least bit bothered by it, as if some strange power was keeping him together.

His dismembered arms hovered for a few seconds, then blood veins/muscle tissue/nerve veins grew from the stump and reattached them, same with the spine, as flesh regenerated and covered over the cut lines. All that was left of the damage was more scars to his already large collection of battle damage.

He didn't mind the arrow in the head though, despite the minor itching. Maybe he'll take it out later. "YoU dOnE?"

Bastet breathed heavily, taken back by the fast regeneration speed that he displayed. The Fragment, created and then stolen from the New World, as a gift to her mother was a hazardous thing, that she had only had the power to create and enlarge a sword, capable of obliterating a pirate fleet by splitting the very ocean for fifty miles and cause large tidal waves to crush the ships into pulp. Her sister, Morrigan, had the Fragment to summon birds and cats, and temporarily fuse them with humans for an half hour to create a powerful army both in the air and on land, 'Anthros' to be exact.

That Fragment was now in that monster's possession, swallowed and placed inside of him like a baby eats a nickel. And now, he was fully aware of what she could do. "SeE yA iN tHe NeXt LiFe!" He chuckled, his hand raised out of front of her with palm opened wide. "Ad ViTaM aUt CuLpUm!"

Just like that, she was blown into 4 different Bastets: a hollow suit of skin wearing her clothes, a boneless, skinless body with red muscle tissue and organs as well as eyeballs, a skeleton with no flesh or organs, and finally the spirit of her self (ghost) which quickly dissipated into thin air.

"SuCh Is ThE fAtE fOr OrGaN dOnOrS." The person laughed, standing on the floor as the stone began to corrode from his power, the three 'physical' bodies melting inward into puddles of goop. And from the goop, he pulled out the rare stone from where her delicate hand was, which reverted the giant sword back into a staff. He ignored the archers that were constantly pelting his backside with arrows, which were starting to get annoying.

He walked straight into the temple where she came out of, ignoring everyone around him like the frightened house maids and angry scroll-keepers. A few burly guards in heavy battle armor swung their axes at him, but they immediately regretted it after they watched him regenerate, and ended up extremely disfigured with parts of their bodies disjointed and twisted.

"WhAt FoOlS tHeSe HuMaNs Be." He muttered, gazing at the temple altar, a golden, bronze tree branching upwards for half a mile upwards with emerald stone-shaped leaves and ruby-shaped apples. It was where the two 'goddesses' drank ambrosia, the very liquid that kept them looking young and beautiful for decades and tasted like a different 5 course meal each time. But despite the delicious taste and youth, the dangerous side-effect was that they would still grow old on the inside, and constant drinking would result in a short lifespan of about 40 years at most.

Walking up to the trunk where the sap was pulled out by hand, he placed one of his grotesque, rotting hands against the polished bark. "AwAkEn." He commanded in a dry, hollow tone as the bark slowly began to turn a ashy white color where his hand was, spreading outwards like a swarm of locusts, eating the metal inside-out. The precious gems lost their color and faded, becoming as brittle as mica. Blue smoke poured out through the cracks that formed, breaking down the chunks and pushing through with air pressure.

He wrapped the cloak around him until he looked like a tepee, as the smoke itself could freeze anyone solid in a matter of seconds as a safety precaution. It breezed past him, the gas parting around a barrier that protected the tender skin. And just as abruptly, it ceased as the tree shattered to pieces altogether, bouncing off the cloak and landing all over the floor.

Unveiling himself again to see, he could see that the years had not changed his servant, now the curse had been broken. It was a rather large serpent, not as big as the one at Skypeia, but the length of it was about 2 miles, all of it green scales with brown triangles etched onto it and black stripes on it's belly. It wore the hood of a Cobra, but in actuality it was the being's 'face', as it had nearly eighty eyes in the front and back of it, which opened and closed for blinking purposes. But the most peculiar part was the mouth, as it was more like a lizard's than a snake, with multiple jaws inwards and a mouth that could swallow 2 double-decker buses on top of each other, the long fangs dripping with purple liquid.. It's tongue was that of a long-necked garter snake with bulging eyes and a human mouth, which spoke the language that he had learned from the goddesses that nurtured his frozen form.

"Speak the name of the Pact, thy Master. For I, Níðhöggr, serpent of the Sin Tree will devour all who take on the likeness of him." The massive serpent screeched out, his very voice caused many of the soldiers that were rushing in to reinforce to fall down on their knees and vomit blood as it poured out their ears and mouths.

"GoOd To SeE yOu As WeLl, NiOh. In meus Nomen , Iuguolo mihi vivo!." He stated, plainly as possible as his cloak gathered around him should the pact be unsteady. He preferred to call the beast "Nioh" for simplicity, as he had such a bad knack for recalling names.

The creature gazed deeply at him, his multiple eyes snapping open and shut on it's hood. It slowly sucked air in for a deep breath since it was still unused to the atmosphere, and let out a toxic purple plume of smoke upon him and the land. He didn't move an inch as it consumed him, the fog withered and eroded all that it touched. Even the great pyramids lost a fair chunk of themselves and the crops for the great harvest were turned to white dust that was scattered in the wind.

A clap of his hands was all that was needed to isolate himself from the fog of death, creating a 7 foot diameter barrier around him as the smoke slowly cleared up.

"I see, you be my master after all." Nioh said, stretching himself even farther upwards as the eyes all opened at the same time. "What is your wish?"

"ThIs LaNd. TaKe It." Was his reply, completely unafraid of the attack that the beast had attempted to kill him with.

"As you wish, my Master." Nioh hummed, his tail moving around itself, coiling over itself again and again, forming a ring with his neck and head in the center. Closing all of his eyes, he concentrated heavily on a single point of the room. The person quickly moved outside the building as soon as he heard the foosh, foosh sound, like a fan hitting a paper ribbon, taking flight into the sky.

It may have looked like a trick of the light, or a mirage from all the heat, but it clearly looked like a gigantic apple hovered over the island in it's entirety. Red, to be exact. The surviving townsfolk gaped in fear at it, believing that it was a bomb ready to fall, but that was farther than the truth.

As Nioh burst through the roof, he continued to expand his length, his width decreasing in density and weight until he was right at the very tip of the bottom of the apple with the width of a garter snake. "It's time." He whispered in a erratic, maniacal tone. "Apple Reverse!!!!!"

And with that, the Island vanished into thin air without a trace, save for a few pebbles and pieces of rock that splashed into the sea below. The man then left, flying to the east at such high speed that the camera couldn't keep up with.

------------------------------

The image of the vanished island faded away, ending in sheer blackness as the Den-Den projector snail (roughly the size of a watermelon) closed it's eyes and mouth.

"This...is outrageous! You mean to tell me that in my absence someone like that exists!"

"He seems cool to me, pops."

"Don't call me pops, small fry. Anyway, I see what you're afraid of but-"

"Afraid? The World Government fears nothing, save a attack from Whitebeard. LIGHTS!"

A large 6 foot tall red-feathered stork-like bird with long multi-colored rainbow tail feathers and a parrot-like beak glared at him, continuously molting and regrowing new feathers each minute. "What you have just witnessed was the Second Coming, aimed solely at World Government-protected islands." It squawked, mimicking human speech. The three sat on comfortable straw mats in the center of a refurnished old Japanese-style room with tatami mats and paper walls, with a small garden on the right and a wooden perch on the left side.

"True, but I fail to see what that has to do with me. I'm retired." Maes Quatermain said plainly, rubbing scabs off his scarred hands. The 68 year old ex-sniper looked worn-out, battered from years of service and from grading papers as a Instructor for young trainees (like Crescendo). His white hair was receding a centimeter each mouth, yet his well-trimmed beard and gray moustache were was sharp at the ends as always. His well-fit body nearly didn't fit his hand-me-down plain white button-up shirt, with his sleeves rolled up, brown vest that hang loosely over his shoulders, brown pants, and leather boots made for civilian use/camouflage.

"And I'm just a student who was abducted with him from his classroom." The boy said, folding his arms over the large cross-like object that sat on his lap, covered in a thick white blanket.

"Shut up, the both of you! I don't care what you pests say, this is a private matter of National Security worldwide." The bird growled, laying an red polka dotted egg out of anger.

--You can't blame them for not understanding, Salsa, they are but simple homo sapiens who follow the will of the WG.-- A smoothing, serene voice said, as a wizened, 18 foot long, 6 foot tall Snapping Tortoise slowly inched itself through the doorway with it's flippers. He didn't even open his mouth to say the words, yet everyone heard it. I would have come sooner, but my soaps were on.

"Did Marcia finally accept Dan's proposal to marry him?" The bird asked, slightly turning his long flexible neck to face the turtle.

--Nah, apparently a vase fell off a bookshelf, so now she has amnesia for the 51th time this season. I swear the writers are getting lazy doing a new show every day.-- The turtle complained, swishing about it's front flippers in disgust.

"Okay, a bird talking I can understand, but how the heck are you doing that?" Maes asked, slightly curious to the ancient turtle that seemed to be just as human as he was.

"Shut up I said! You humans are all alike, looking at the small things instead of the big picture." The bird shrieked, causing the room to shake with the power of it's voice.

--Calm yourself, **Salsa**! We do not want the humans to die here, so keep a lid on your temper.--

"Bah! It's Tango's fault for selecting such a weakling if he can't withstand my power, **Pogo**." Salsa spat, pacing back and forth on the floor.

Maes's eyes widened in shock, taken back by those words. "Tango? The Tango? The legendary Demon Slayer?"

"See? See? That stupid cat is more popular than we are, and we practically run things!" The bird cursed, flapping his wings in outrage. "Listen, human! You are here at that bastard's request, to stand before the Shadow Admirals as a way to repay your defiance."

"Defiance? Shadow Admirals? Am I on Candid Den-Den?"

--What he means to say is that because you did not attend the marine summons to Headquarters during Ace's escape, you are being charged with a late 'Half-Treason' crime. Nothing too serious, but the normal Admirals are far too busy with Whitebeard and the Elder Stars aren't available at this time, meaning we, Salsa, Tango and myself, who deal in the darker side of the government (slavery, human experiment, advanced torture, merman remodeling) are in charge of your case.---

"But I've done nothing wrong!" Maes complained, before Salsa moved in to rapidly peck his skull full of bumps.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! All you do is look bad! Do you think we care about details? You failed to get there on time and you will do us a favor unless you and your so-called student want to get the gallows!" Salsa growled.

If you're worried about Tommy Saywer aka the new marine recruit, Pogo noticed Maes gulp in hesitation, we had already done the research on him, he is barely a small threat being a Odd Job Bounty Hunter. He will become necessary for this mission.

"Small threat? How the heck would you know?" The boy said, flashing a brand-new pistol from his holster and fired all six shots in one pull, all aimed at the same point, Pogo's skull.

I know because you are merely human and not with a Devil Fruit. The bullets reached him, but stopped a inch away from his face before falling to the floor. To have such skill like your master is indeed impressive, for that man can sense Devil Fruit users and destroy them easily.

"Whoa...." Tommy said, stunned by the display of fearlessness.

"Blah! If that stupid cat would have burned the remains like he was supposed to, we wouldn't have to deal with such inferior tactics!" Salsa screeched, continuing to pelt Maes.

Pogo raised a flipper before slamming it down, sending a shockwave that overthrew a straight line of tatami. Salsa shrieked as she took to the ceiling, flapping her long, delicate wings to avoid the straw mat missiles. --Salsa, you're going to give that poor man a ulcer. Besides, you know as well as I do that that man simply can't die.--

"So, what's the mission then?" Tommy said, bandaging up the red bumps on his teacher's forehead.

---You've already witnessed it. Somewhere in the New World, we want you and Maes to locate and relay back the location of the missing 8 islands to Marine Headquarters. This alone must be top secret, since he will always be watching for any marines, but a pair of normal, non-DF powered civilians passing by in a small cargo ship will not attract his attention.-- Pogo explained as briefly as he could.

"Hmmph, I doubt he's that stupid, Pogo." Salsa said, landing in a different area and began to clean her feathers for dust. "He kills everyone, even his closest allies, which I have a healthy respect for."

"And how do you know all this?" Maes asked calmly, in which Pogo replied by cutting a thin cable nearby with his jaw. Without warning, a 10 foot tall metal filing cabinet dropped down like a comet, shaking the floor and rattling his teeth, in which a drawer 20 feet in length popped open and struck him hard in the chest, sending him nearly all the way across the room before stopping.

"From the moment a person is born, we have Archivers taking notes on them. The focus of a Shadow Government is to supply the World Government with natural or fake information, to spy and record the lives of every person, pirate/navy or civilian, it doesn't matter. With Den-Den cameras attached to seagulls, we can track down several different pirate ships and jot down their locations. But we only give out the information in exchange for new, more recent data since we don't get along with Sengoku or his men." Salsa snickered, uncaring of how many laws they were breaking. "The fact you lost your 2nd wife because of your job only proves how advanced our data collecting is."

"But you can't find this guy, right?" Tommy raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

--Correct, for he is a enigma that we are trying to eradicate. -- Pogo said, --Just like the Third Family that is watching over the Samuels and the Cross's', but we already know their whereabouts. They just haven't done anything lately for us to blow the whistle.--

"We'll give you humans a month to locate him. If you fail..." The large bird moved his wing across his thin throat, "Well, that goes without saying. Karkarkar!"

* * *

1 and half days to Con...

Alto fidgeted uncomfortably, trying to reach in the back for that tiny, tiny itch that had been bugging him for hours. In the men's restroom, there was a strong code of conduct that all males obey to a letter, when you see a captain go crazy, keep your yap shut. The others thought he was on the toilet when he was really trying to rub his back against the edge of the seat to relieve the awful pain.

Why he couldn't use his strings to do it? Because that would be insanely painful and he might end up with half a torso, just like last time. Now that hurt like hell and a half for a while till Nocturne patched him up with ki manipulation.

Either way, the leather vest and green turtleneck shirt was driving him crazy. Not to mention a stupid padded brown football helmet with fuzzy earflaps and yellow prescription goggles was bugging his perfect hair. Even the white hakama seemed a bit funny with his straw sandals, making him look a bit mismatched fashion-wise. He twitched again, the itch making him tear up inside.

'Completely stupid...why is it that out of all of us, I had to get the clothes that doesn't even fit my character? It's like it's infested with lice or something.' He thought, scratching like crazy up and down.

Apparently, he was to be the 'First Mate' which bugged him a little since he wanted to be the captain of the crew. But Hymn, being a jerk, told him the Capt. of the pirate crew was female and that even if he was to 'replace' her, he didn't look very threatening. That, and he was only worth 20 million. 20 million? How insulting. He can take on pirates 200 million and up, but he had less than Prelude who had 70 million (after threatening to carve off Hymn's right ear with a rusty sawblade).

Still, one can't argue that the large thin wapolium broadsword that he received wasn't a bad gesture. He didn't have a lot of experience with swords other than using them in the academy, and even then, those were bamboo-type shinai. He carried it on his back in a green sash sheath, but he knew that he will never need it since he'll find a way to hide his wires and cut down a few pirates without killing them.

Once the itch subside, he made his way out of the stall (but not without a little handwash for hygiene) and opened the door only to crash into Requiem who was coming out of the female restroom.

"Sorry." He muttered, falling backwards out of courtesy to a lady. In a way, running into her was the same as smashing one's head into a full-grown oak tree.

"......" Requiem just stared blankly at him, since she had magnetized her steel-platform sandals to avoid getting knocked over. "....washed hands...."

"Don't worry about it, I'll be picking off the mussels to make them extra grimy." Alto laughed, trying not to look suspicious since he 'took' some soap bars from the towel rack and put them in his pocket. In a way, he really hated to get his hands dirty and with the ship remodeled in the inside, that meant the fresh water showers were gone.

"....." She briefly nodded, already knowing that he was lying by his racing heartbeat. "....then go...."

"Sure, sure. You look pretty good yourself." He said, walking with her down the hallway corridor and to the downstairs poles. Requiem took the identity of Sakuya Ai, a well-known priestess miko gifted in the white arts and archery craft with a bounty of 200 million. Which meant that not only was she in her miko clothing, her hair was done up and pinned in and her face covered in white makeup. In a way, she looked like a really, really hot geisha but her skirt was a bit short as a result for expanding the sleeves three feet out. That was because she had several bags of iron powder tied inside of each of them.

".....pervert...." Was her reply, which depressed him a little upon hearing it. Ever since the great jailbreak, the ship was nearly empty save for regular staff and marine personnel on standby, so which is why they had no problem getting to the poles without encountering the 'mosh pits of hell' the hallways are know for.

Sliding down the poles was the hard part since they were still icy from the deep chill of the hidden subterranean tunnel built inside the Red Line by imprisoned criminals fifty years ago before they started to make the bridges. Alto still recalled how his nose drippings (he had gotten a cold for a week) had frozen inside his nose when they were processed through it and out into the 'New World'.

He bit his lip, feeling the numbness in his fingers and the slight frostbite that came with it, trying hard not to let go. For to fall meant a 30 foot drop without something soft to land on, unlike his ship that had beanbags and pillows. A lot of good, well-rounded marines had perished in this fashion, their bodies given a medal and shipped off to their respected islands for burial.

"......" Requiem didn't feel a thing, as usual, as they sped up down the poles faster and faster. Not even a blister could make her cringe.

The end of the pole was to be at the Loading Deck, similar to an airport observation area with dozens of doorways. After a minute of dropping down, Alto's and Requiem's feet planted firmly as Alto cursed the stupid architect's name for making such a lousy blueprint. Blue chairs, open reinforce bulletproof-windows, peanut shells on the blue carpet, and plenty of small businesses selling food and navy merchandise was the best description for the place since it was where all navy crews came to enter and leave. There was even a large Olympic-sized pool for some reason for those who couldn't swim normally in the Sea King-infested waters.

There, Prelude was wiping her sweaty forehead with a rag, tired from giving the pile of her latest batch of stalkers and want-to-be-boyfriends a royal beatdown by a nearby door. "Such a pain. None of them are even close to bishie level like Nocturne." She smiled cruelly, wondering if she could throw them overboard and then decided against it since her captain was watching her.

As usual, she looked frightening in the fake lighting, her eyes filled with jealousy and hate as she stomped on one of their perfect faces with her steel-rimmed leather brown boots designed to shatter concrete walls but allow her to walk and jump normally. She was dressed less like a soldier and more like a demolition expert, with a special long green skirt covered in secret pockets to hide magazines and special ammunition, a snakeskin belt to hold her flare gun holsters, brown suspenders to hold up her heavy skirt, a thin-layered blue tanktop that could take a shotgun blast and shrug it off due to the kelvar it was made of, a combat grey vest over her upper chest with additional Kelvar to protect her heart and vital organs (as well as store rations and tools to fix her weapons) and a orange bandanna with black stripes tied around her head.

She even tied her blond hair back into a long ponytail, and her cruel eyes shadowed by the 'card dealer hat' which she would use to put off the look. On her back strapped in was her Elephant Gun which she remodified to fire off heavy flare shells and a sawed-off shotgun loaded with a mysterious ammo that Hymn loaned her.

"I see that you're crushing some of the people that I have to answer to still." Alto said, sighing in annoyance. "Such a pain when I have to make more paperwork to apologize for your actions to their superiors."

"Can I help it if I'm so cute?" She said, getting off the pile as the trio made their way to the door.

"Cute isn't the word for it. You know as well as anyone that the Hina Clan holds a lot of influence in the Council of Kings, and by bagging you, they gain power in the World Government. Then they'll just kill you with poison and say that you're sick, continuing their corrupt ways." Alto stated, wondering why such people exist.

"....idiots...." Requiem said plainly.

"Like she said, 'San'." Alto said, causing Prelude to huff in refusal that she wasn't the least bit beautiful. That, and she hated the name of the pirate that she was to impersonate. In her village, such a given name was taboo since it would incur the Heron God's wrath upon them. At least he got a normal name "Big Al", which annoyed him a bit since he hated tall people that were bigger than him.

As soon as they reached the door and went through, their feet felt the slight tilt of incline followed by stepping on metal pipes in a C-form attached to the floor. For like a airport terminal, there was multiple 'seawalks' or manmade grey tunnels that connected to the ships that docked to the sides of the Tsuru.

Taking one step at a time on the metal rungs, the three descended farther and farther down until they reached the end point, their ship, leaping off with a whoop of glee and landing on the soft, fluffy pillows stacked up butt first. The ship didn't look that much different, just a black paint job, more cannons on deck, black flags carrying a Jolly Roger with a Halo and a knife in it's teeth, and the leviathan figurehead was replaced with a gargoyle. According to the captured crew, it was known as the "Holy Poseidon", which bugged Alto since it didn't look that great.

"Good morning, captain!" A sound assembly of his crew shouted out as once, outfitted in ragged hand-me-down clothes that they had taken from a Navy Prison with the proper paperwork. Some wore eyepatches, others bandages around parts of their healthy bodies, or carried heavy weaponry on their person. In a way, they looked like extremely poor outcasts from a rejected adventure film but Alto declined to say anything since it would hurt morale.

"At ease, men!" He barked, knowing that soon Requiem will be taking the reins. "As you all know, we had assembled about 800 people for this long and perilous journey. Which will only be dangerous if you screw up the mission, bringing the wrath of nearly 90,000 pirates down on us."

Many gulped, unsure if they could take on that many.

"Luckily, Hymn says that we will have a window of opportunity to steal the Scavenger Hunt list that will then be duplicated and make a new one that will trick them into submitting defeat. So in the meantime, be on your rudest, crudest behavior and avoid getting too drunk as to prevent spilling the beans." He said, noting that Hymn had been in the back, his face red and moist since he had chosen the role of Harold Stone, 12 million.

Why he was burning up was because he was wearing a thick black coat and sweatpants, even though it was nearly 78 degrees. But it was useful to store his array of tools inside the pockets, and he even brought along a 10 foot version of the HypErmine (Prelude smashed the last one into chunks once it was brought to the deck). Since he was new, no pirate would ever suspect he was part of a naval force because he had no real reputation.

Crescendo was hopping up and down with glee, eager to begin the trip as "Crescent", with 5 million on her head. She took her white T-shirt, ripped off the sleeves, rolled around in the mud and then swam in the Tsuru's dumpster for a short time to completely dirty and gunk it up. Then wore suspenders and blue jeans with no socks to complete the transformation. Even a firehose at maximum couldn't clean it up, so Alto allowed her to wear it provided she wasn't within 30 foot of him due to his high sense of smell. She even cut holes in her shoes just in case she wanted her feet to breathe.

As Alto rambled on and on about safety procedures and the buddy system that all Navy personnel trust, Gandyr folded his weak arms as he gazed at the blue sky without a cloud in sight. As "Gandal" (15 million), he had the look of a mortician mixed with a butler, black suit with tail, white tie, red rose, black jeans and polished leather shoes, all fit for his stature and humpback. He carried his suitcases inside a large backpack that strained every one of his weak bones, but knew that it would be worth it since the pirates would be looking for things that could contain a bomb. Or rather dangerous medical supplies.

'I don't know about this, but if I mention it to the captain, he'll laugh it off as always. He probably didn't even read the Wanted Posters involving the pirates involved like I did, but it's like he wants a disadvantage in a fight.' He thought, as the crew hoorahed a few times drinking the sweet nectar of rum and mead awhile listening to the boring speech.

"......" Requiem was in the back, chugging a large jug of alcohol as to imitate the men but failed to get any sort of buzz.

"Raise the sails, pull anchor, sweep the deck! I don't care what happens, we have to get to that place using a 'shortcut' that Shadow Admiral Tango once used on the New World. It's a bit faster than the one we usually take to go back and forth." Alto said, as then saluted before getting to their duties such as untying the rope chains, unfastening the sails, cleaning the barnacles, patching up any holes in the deck, polishing the floor and so on. Others went down below to teach their classes or work in their respective clubrooms, ready to take on new challenges once they arrive at the Convention.

Requiem was handed the coordinates, which she stood transfixed, completely oblivious to the world around her as magnetic particles formed into arrows to point to the northeast of the Blue.

"You sure about this, Captain? It says 'Storm Void' on the paper." Gladyr inquired, hoping Alto understood the risks of going there.

"Sure, I'm sure." Alto laughed, as he snatched a glass of Root Beer from a table and drank it fully, looking at the glorious sky. "He probably meant that it rains from time to time in that area. Don't worry so much, for there ain't a cloud in the sky that I can see."

4 hours later....

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH! I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE, NOW I'M GONNA DIE BEFORE I GET LAID EVEN ONCE!!"

A lot of men on the seas probably say that once, twice, maybe even three times during their voyages on the Grand Line. But then again, that's usually when they're entering a hopeless-looking firefight, or when they're about to be devoured by a Sea King...not when they're trying to escape a bizarre piece of area on the sea.

Not the Florian Triangle, but probably just as, or even more, dangerous than said Triangle. While the Florian Triangle had thick, dark clouds that shielded the ocean from sunlight, and very heavy mists that made vision hard on any sailor, that area's danger wasn't anything like the Storm Void Zone. This particular piece of the Grand Line had huge, thick thunderclouds that flashed blue lightning every few seconds, shortly followed by ear-splitting thunderclaps, gigantic 50-foot waves that could crush any boat if caught unprepared, had hail and rain that could easily kill anyone, bizarre temperature changes that either went high or low on a dime, and the coup de grace...

Sea Kings.

Hundreds and hundreds of Sea Kings.

It was like a nesting ground for the enormous sea-creatures, sort of like the Calm Belt, but just the opposite in weather conditions, which made it even more dangerous to be around than the Calm Belt itself. Hence the screaming of one of the sailors on the boat.

"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A THREE HOUR TRIP! A THREE HOUR TRIP!!!" one Marine screamed hysterically.

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" another Marine shouted, "JUST SHUT UP AND TRY NOT TO DIE!"

Alto looked around the Leviathan, seeing his crew either panic or try to hold on for dear life against the wrath of the raging weather.

"Stay as calm as possible!" He shouted over the roar of the storm, "We'll get through this, just hang on a little bit longer!" he looked up at the thick storm clouds above him as the ship rocked back and forth thanks to the giant waves that were ever present in the Storm Void, 'Just a little bit longer...! That's all I ask!'

It's easy to pray to some divine being that may or may not exist, it's a whole other thing to think that it could actually cut one some slack in this forsaken area. The Storm Void Zone, while rough in itself thanks to it's constant lightning strikes and the 50-foot waves, was even more dangerous thanks to the hail and rain that fell from the thunderclouds. Usually, rain and hail were harmless in other parts of the world, but in the Storm Void, they were capable of killing a man.

With baseball-sized hail pellets and rain that could cut through a person's flesh like razor-sharp knives that fall rapidly from the sky, the Storm Void was truly a deadly place, one that was usually avoided by many crews, pirate and Marine alike. As he screamed orders over the wind and thunder, Alto watched as many of his men took sanctuary inside the ship or under large, metal tarps that were dragged out onto the deck. The hail pellets crashed into the tarps, creating many large dents in the protective metal cover while Alto felt a number of raindrops graze his face, cutting into him.

Although a good number of Marines were protected by the metal tarps, the ones inside the ship were having problems of their own at the moment. Even as a fair amount of hail pellets were deflected or stop, more and more pummeled the ship and some even did enough damage to plow through the wooden interior. This wasn't good, because even a rookie sailor could do the math of "holes in ship plus slamming tidal waves equals danger of flooding". This was particularly an interesting feat to do, since the Leviathan was made from Adam's Wood to begin with.

"This place is _insane_!" one the Marines inside the Leviathan cried as she and others tried to scoop out the flooding seawater into buckets to empty out back into the sea outside, "Why couldn't have we taken the safe way here?"

"Stow it and keep shoveling water out!" another female Marine snapped, her slacks soaked and her legs freezing, "Just do your job and when we get out of here, alive, then you can complain to Captain Alto about it, okay?!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just don't say I didn't warn-!" the Marine never finished her sentence, thanks to the ship suddenly rocking like crazy, causing her to slam into the wall and hit the floor hard, a large fresh cut on the side of her head, blood already oozing out and mixing with the seawater.

"Well, _that _shut her up...," the second Marine muttered under her breath as she picked herself off the floor, all of her clothes completely soaked now, "What the hell was that?!"

Alto stared as a huge Sea King shook it's head after ramming itself into the Leviathan. The captain rushed over to the railing of the ship and looked down to see at least three more Sea Kings moving underneath his ship, as well as three Marines either disappearing beneath the waves or being swallowed up by the Sea Kings. Of course, most of them just ignored the boat due to the seastone layer.

"The reports weren't kidding about this being a Sea King hot spot. Still, we've entered and we can't do anything about it besides get through it...," he looked over his shoulder to see a number of his men fall over onto the deck, dead thanks to the knife-like raindrops that kept pouring on and off, "This is too much, we need to get out of here, now! The sooner we can, the more men we can save."

One of the many Marines still left alive ran up to him, slipping on the soaked deck, "Captain Alto! We can't take much more of this, this weather is causing many to become seasick!"

"I know, Requiem's working on it, just do what you can!" Alto yelled as he helped the man up, "Is there any improvement?"

"No sir!" the Marine shook his head rapidly, flinging beads of saltwater in every direction, mixing them with the rain. Alto grimaced as some of it got on his mouth, burning his tongue somewhat, "The temperature keeps going from cold as hell to freezing every few seconds, the wind isn't making it any easier on our propulsion through the zone, we're losing more men than we can count, and we keep getting hit by wave after wave!"

As if to prove his point, another wave smashed into the ship, causing it to tilt considerably. Alto watched as a handful of Marines slid dangerously close to the end, but managed to catch themselves in time as they threw their safety grapple cables and claws to catch floorboards and heavy crates.

"Sir, what do we do?!"

Alto looked at the anxious Marine, "Just do what you can! I'll go see if we're any closer to getting out of this place, you and the others do your best to keep this ship from being wiped out, soldier!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the Marine gave a nod and bolted across the deck, leaving Alto free to head towards his navigator, hoping she was having a better time steering the ship than the rest of the crew had trying to keep it from being destroyed by the storm.

'Dammit, Requiem, I hope you have some good news for me on this! We could really use some right about now!' He said, spitting out the seawater in disgust.

While Alto went up to the top deck to find Requiem, Crescendo and Prelude were having their own troubles trying to keep the ship intact and the others alive. For a little girl, not to mention a Zoan-user, Crescendo seemed to be doing much better than many of her other comrades in the raging storm. She was able to not only pull "sliders" as those knocked off their feet and sent speeding towards the end of the ship were called, but she was able to get the wounded, but unconscious safely out of the hail and rain by throwing them across the deck, aiming for the metal tarps.

Prelude on the other hand, was helping those behind the cannons fire shot after shot at incoming waves, Sea Kings and hail, hoping to blast them apart so they couldn't do further damage to the ship. It was difficult enough to keep the fuses and starter lights from being doused, but to make things worse, some of the cannons backfired, sending wooden debris, gunpowder and shrapnel flying into the gunners, making them unable to continue their fight to survive the storm. They were quickly taken down below for the medic team to look at as new cannons and gunners replaced them one at a time, using reinforced lead umbrellas to cover the fuses.

"INCOMING!!!"

"God, what now?!" Prelude ran to the front of the ship to see what the problem was and skidded to a halt when she saw another hail pellet, or one should say hail meteorite coming straight for the ship, "Oh, you gotta be frakking kidding me!" Her hands flew to her flare guns, pulled them free and aimed them both at the incoming harbinger of doom. "Sunlight Cutter!"

The nearby soldiers recovering from injuries or seeking refuge watched as a bright light engulfed the deck of the Leviathan, shortly followed by an explosion that was even louder than the storm itself, then the deck was showered with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of hail shards.

Prelude grinned and lowered her flare guns after blasting said meteorite, "It's gonna take more _than_ that to kill us...,"

"Hey! Prelude, don't butt in!"

"Hm?" the Marine looked down from the sky to see Crescendo crouching on the deck, a very annoyed look on her face, "What the hell are you talking about?"

The little Zoan user pointed to where the hail previously sat in the air, "I had that covered, and you just came and blew it to pieces before I could finish it off!" She said, her large arm hanging by her side. Hoppi sat nearby, watching in fascination that those two were so similar.

"What?!" Prelude glared at her, "Like hell you had that covered, I didn't even see you go for it, shorty!"

"A Cup!"

"Hairy butt!"

"Ironing board!"

"Hammer beast!"

"Ugly broad!"

"Diaper brat!"

The Marines taking refuge watched as the two comrades seemed to completely ignore the current situation to argue about who did what with the former bringer of death.

"Shouldn't we tell them they both got rid of it...?" one Marine with a deep gash above his eye said to himself .

"Oh sure, let's do!" another Marine knocked him upside the head, "What are you, crazy?!"

Up on the top deck, Alto was having a busy time of his own, using his wires to protect Requiem as she guided the Leviathan through the Storm Void. The Marine captain's hands flew from side to side, his nearly invisible wires flying through the chilly air, slicing into the hail to defend his navigator. 'Not good, if the rain gets on too much, the wires would get sloggy.'

"Any idea when we'll be getting out of this place?" Alto inquired as he sliced a particularly large ball of hail into at least a dozen pieces, "If we ever get there, we might lose the mast and a good chunk of the crew!"

".....out soon...." Requiem replied, holding onto the steering wheel tightly, "....strange whirlpools ahead...."

'Strange whirlpools? Since when does she describe them?' Alto shook his head as he sliced another oncoming wave of hail, 'This place must be affecting her mind, or something!'

"EVERYONE HANG ON, THIS ONE'S GOING TO BE ROUGH!!"

"You don't have to tell us twice!"

The Leviathan suddenly tilted to the side again, much like when the Sea King rammed itself into the ship, but this was due to Requiem's navigation in order to avoid a particularly large whirlpool. The people inside the ship were relative safe, although they had to avoid their belongings and supplies inside as they once again were thrown into them. The people above, however, had to cling onto anything and everything they could so they wouldn't get thrown overboard into the very same whirlpools that Requiem was trying to avoid. Using the buddy system, they tied ropes around their waists or tarred their shoes for a better grip.

"....Captain...." Requiem looked back at Alto, "...rough time navigating..."

"No kidding!" He growled, lending her a lead umbrella to shield herself.

"....ride it out....sails damaged....!" Requiem continued, "....roll sails...salvage later...!"

Alto looked at her, then looked up at the sails to see that they all had numerous tears in the material thanks to the razor-rain drops and the hail pellets that hammered the ship from above.

"Alright," he nodded, "RAISE THE SAILS, RIGHT NOW! SECOND COMPANY, TAKE OVER!"

Down below, the flooding was getting worse and worse. There was more water coming into the ship than the Marines were able to throw back out. It was getting so bad, those susceptible to the power of the sea found themselves becoming useless and faint, falling into the flooding areas only to be fished out by those who were still able to work. Those were quickly replaced by those who weren't as tired or sore, the marines that had seniority.

"Where the heck is that freaking Hybrid!" Alto called out over the frantic noise, as he knew Bolero might be able to push the ship out with a giant fireball impact.

"Bolero's working the rudder since he can't see anything with the muzzle on, he's one of the people keeping this tub from capsizing and killing us all!"

Up top, Requiem and Alto saw a startling new change in their current predicament. The Leviathan had started to slow down a bit, but it also seemed to pull back and rise, bit by bit into the air. Confused, the two looked around to see a massive wave rising higher and higher into the sky, pulling the first-rate ship along for the ride.

Alto sweatdropped, "Oh, _this_ is gonna hurt...,"

"...Odd..."

Down below, more and more things became loose and collided with the soldiers thanks to the wave outside. Many of Alto's men screamed and practically flew through the innards of the ship, smashing into the structure. One Marine yelled as he pulled a few Marines out of harm's way, "Where the hell is that doctor, we got injured down here!"

"He's up top!"

"What, the people injured up there are more important than us?!"

"He's not _just_ tending to them!"

"Who cares? We have the other medics going as fast as they can! Wait your turn!"

"Then what the hell is he doing?"

The answer was simple. For those on Alto's crew who still didn't know much about Gladyr or his abilities, would learn soon when it was all over. The Master of Static Boxer was on one of the upper decks, taking in bolt after bolt of lightning that tried to strike the ship and fry it. He was able to absorb said electrical bolts, but even that didn't stop some arcs of energy leaping out around him and hitting parts of the ship, creating both massive amounts of sparks and fire.

"Like to see someone try and mock my boxing now," Gladyr chuckled, taking more and more hits as the wind suddenly picked up, making the razor-rain come down even faster, "Just need to put out the fires and we should be good. I'll let the younger ones handle that while I take care of business up here,"

Around the ship, those not on the guns and still able to move around were moving back and forth to put out the fires like crazy. The available Marines did everything they could to extinguish the lightning induced fire, where it was by stamping on the smaller flames or ripping off parts of their soaked uniforms and throwing them onto said flames. They survived this long in the Storm Void and it's dangerous weather pattern, they were determined not to get their ship destroyed by fire. Each one was so occupied with the surrounding weather and the damages to the ship, it seemed like the only ones who were noticing the ship was rising on a growing wave were Alto, Crescendo, Gladyr, Requiem and Prelude. Bolero, being in the barge, also noticed a slight incline.

With each passing second, more and more drops of razor-rain cut into every soldier on the upper levels, more and more baseball-sized hail pounded the ship, and as the Leviathan took every bit of punishment it could take from the deadly zone, it reached the crest of the giant wave. There, on the very brink, was the first-rate Marine vessel filled with injured and exhausted men and women, and for what felt like an eternity, the Leviathan seemed to hang completely still, trapped in time. For Alto and the soldiers under his command, it all changed.

For a single moment, there was no wind, no rain, no hail, no sound at all...

Nothing. Alto's ears almost popped from it all the silence.

Then, abruptly as it came, the silence disappeared and the sound of chaos in the Storm Void returned. The Leviathan was no longer staying still on the wave, instead it was slowly teetering over the edge of said wave, the front of the ship aimed downward.

"This is really, really, really going to hurt...," Alto ran over to Requiem and stood behind her, gripping the wheel, "BRACE YOURSELF, FOUL SEA!!! HERE WE COME!"

The Leviathan finally broke way of the wave and sped downward into the violent waves below.

---------------------------------------------

Prelude's eye fluttered open and she wasn't sure what she was expected to see at first. Clouds? A bright light? A heavenly chorus singing? Well, there were clouds and a bright light, but it wasn't the afterlife, far from it. And she knew from Requiem that that wasn't possible for a place to exist. Holding her head, Prelude slowly sat up and found herself still on the deck of the Leviathan, still wearing her soaked clothes.

"What the hell...?" she winced, her head pounding, "What happened?" she looked around to see many other Marines looking either confused or completely unconscious, but they were safe. She was confused at first as she rose to her feet, unsure of what to make of what had just happened.

'We were heading right into the water after the wave dropped us...but, how'd we end up in a clear, sunny area?' she winced again, feeling a large lump in the back of her head that she assumed was a result of one last hailstone since it felt a bit cold, "Someone talk to me, what's going on?" she called out, hoping to get a response from someone soon. She was answered by groaning and moans.

"We've come out of the Storm Void Zone, Prelude," Alto said, a bit tired at the moment when his eyes readjusted to the sunlight.

The sniper turned to see Requiem and Alto coming down the stairs to her level, both of them looking alive, but pretty banged up. Prelude's hair looked a little red so she covered it up with her hand.

"We're out?" Prelude repeated, still holding her head which was a bit sore when a hailstone glanced off it, "When did that happen?"

"When we got 'thrown' off that wave back there, we ended up right outside the border of the zone and into calm waters, " Alto explained before noticing her hand on her head, "You okay?"

Prelude nodded, "Y-Yeah, just hit my head on the way down, I guess...," she lied, "Must not have been out long if we just got out of that hell," she looked at her captain, "You didn't die again, did you?" she looked at Requiem before giving him a chance to answer, "Don't you get tired of bringing him back?"

Requiem just looked at Alto, who frowned at that analogy of always getting killed, "......no death currently....."

"I'm standing right here, you two...," He grunted, looking around. "Anyways, let's try to fix the ship a little to make it presentable. Prelude, you take down the names of the dead so we can notify their next-of-kin."

"Roger!"

"......"

One hour later after much repair from Hymn and the ship mechanics....

"We go into the Storm Void, we get uncontrollable winds, we get out of the Storm Void, we have no winds at all...," Hymn shook his head as he guided his HypErmine mech's fans to fan the sails of the Leviathan. Partly because the sails had been completely soaked and needed to dry as soon as possible, and partly because the mech's fans were the only source of wind power in their part of the ocean at the moment.

"Glad I didn't lose this thing," he patted his mech, "It was hell getting it under control, I'd be so pissed if I lost it just because of a storm!"

Below the mech, the survivors of the Storm Void were going back and forth, making repairs to their ship and getting things back to normal. They lost good comrades in the Void, and they mourned their losses, but they still had a job to do after all. Alto came up top after visiting some of the other wounded in the infirmary and looked around, assessing the work so far. New sails and boards were brought up for the repairs, and the mechanics continued to fix everything in proper order.

'Not bad. Only 20 dead or heavily wounded, but that's because Gladyr came down to save them after we got out. Least they're getting back to their normal, calm selves and not screaming at the top of their lungs...'

A loud splash, followed by a slight rocking of the boat, which was followed by a roar, which was followed by a group of screams was heard soon afterward.

Alto sighed, "Oh well...a guy can dream," he muttered before heading to the source of all the noise. It wasn't hard to find the large Sea King that had just surfaced right next to the Leviathan, the thing was just as big as the others they had come across or maybe even bigger. It completely ignored whatever the ship was, as it thought it sensed prey of some sort. Alto calmly approached the large beast and looked up at the serpent, unaware that it wasn't looking for a fight.

"Nothing personal, big guy," he held up a hand, "It's just not a good time for you to pay as a visit right now. Sorry," he apologized quietly before leaping into the air, towards the Sea King. The serpent opened it's mouth to receive the apparently suicidal Marine captain, but Alto swiftly waved his arm before coming back down to the deck.

Without taking his eyes off the Sea King, Alto landed on the deck of the Leviathan and lowered his arm. The giant monster of the ocean seemed to be paralyzed or something, because it wasn't moving anymore. Moments later, the reason behind it's lack of mobility came to light as the head and body separated from each other and came crashing down into the ocean beside the boat.

Alto smiled a little bit, turned and headed back, "Enjoy the food, everyone," he gave a small wave as the soldiers threw hooks and rope over the side to attach to the Sea King's corpse to pull in. 'Damn...the blood is getting on my hakama, Yuck!!!!' He thought to himself, since saying it out loud would cancel out his 'cool wave'.

----

"Holy...!"

"What the hell is that?"

Away in the distance, and closing in, was a bizarre structure just sitting there on the ocean's surface. The structure was in the shape of a swastika (or something that was similar to a pinwheel) branch of the structure were pirates ships. Lots and lots of pirate ships, each one linked to the structure with hundreds of ropes and anchors, were visible to the Leviathan and its crew. Now, most would think seeing a large Marine vessel closing in such a pirate hot spot would spark something, but thanks to preparation of the Leviathan's crew, no such spark would appear.

In addition to the ship's appearance being altered to look like anything but a Marine ship, the crew had used their "pirate education" shortly before sighting the structure and now each one of the Leviathan's crew were no longer dressed in their uniforms, but normal clothes. Some of them were ratty, some of them were filthy, and some of them were both or on some other degree of civilian normality.

Now, while the large amount of pirate ships and the strange structure was odd enough by themselves, there was something else that threw many of the Marines in disguise off: it was spinning. Spinning around and around another structure, for that matter. The second structure was in the same range area of sight as the first one, it's just that most of the other soldiers were distracted by the first one to even notice the second one. They couldn't quite make it out from their current distance, but the one thing the Marines could determine was that it was very, very large, given the amount of people they could see on top.

Requiem looked down at her comrades from her place on the top level, wondering what they were so impressed by. She looked back up at the structures, ".....spin area for parking.....big place convention," she explained in a dull tone, "find space for ship...tricky because of spinning...."

As Requiem barked orders to the others on how and where to move things so that the Leviathan could dock at the parking lot, Crescendo was looking at the larger of the two structures, a pair of binoculars planted over her eyes. The young Zoan could see everything more clearly: there were a ton of people, at least 50,000 easy on board (which made the cannibal lick her lips from thought of food), large sections made of very thick glass, and some areas that she couldn't exactly make out what they were made out of.

The sound of footsteps behind her reached her ears, but she didn't lower her binoculars even for a second.

Alto leaned against the railing, looking at the convention center, "Impressive, isn't it, Crescendo?" he asked casually, "It's kind of amazing pirates can make this sort of thing, hm?"

"Uh huh...," Crescendo replied, either not caring about what her captain had to said or too focused on the huge buffet walking back and forth on the larger structure...or maybe it was both?

The Marine captain reached down and tapped her shoulder, "Look off to the side, Crescendo, there's something you're missing,"

"Huh?" the young Zoan looked around, "Where?"

"Off to the left, just beyond the parking area,"

She followed Alto's directions and sure enough, she caught sight of something new. Another ship, a very large, ship (battleship class by the looks of it), was docked in the waters. Even from her position, Crescendo could see hundreds of expensive looking cannons on top, as well as a large number of fish sitting lazily in the water next to the ship. Adjusting the sights, Crescendo noticed the fish had seats on their backs.

"Okay, they got pretty cannons, and probably more stashed inside, but what the hell's with the fish?" she asked, handing Alto the binoculars.

"Well, let's see," Alto raised the binoculars and looked through them, "Oh, those? Those are Flying Fish, Crescendo. They're pretty common in some areas of the Grand Line, remember? They're supposed to be well populated back near the Shabondy Archipelago. Of course, they're used by slavers, usually...but I can see that other ships now acquired them to create a air force of some kind." he lowered the binoculars and looked down at her. "What do you think?"

Crescendo shrugged, "I see all kinds of weird stuff traveling under you guys, I can't remember them _all_,"

"Bet you remember everything you eat though," Alto muttered under his breath, earning a glare from the Zoan, "Look, prove me wrong, kiddo, and I'll let you eat the lesser bounties."

-A Short Time Later...-

"It's about time we got this thing tied!" Prelude muttered, scratching her head as she and many of her comrades gathered on the deck, "Requiem, you took so long I bet we could could've just swam here!"

"......" the navigator waved her off, "....We made it here....."

Prelude just rolled her eyes.

"Okay, listen up!" Alto waved his hands to the remaining crew, telling them to gather around him to remind them since some had lost their memories, "Remember, everyone, we're incognito. As long as we're here, we're not Marines, but pirates, just like the others here. We have to remember what we learned otherwise trouble could start. No saluting, no Marine protocol, nothing people may recognize as World Government stuff. We already had to disguise the ship, because I'm pretty sure that some people in this half of the Grand Line knows about it, I don't want our cover blown because of a simple slip up,"

When Alto was done giving his second impromptu "Don't screw up or we're boned" speech of the day, the crew began to disperse from the Leviathan and head off on their own into the convention area, or Con Center, as they learned it was called. Requiem and her own little fanclub went off on their own, Alto left with Prelude and Bolero, Gladyr went off by himself, and Crescendo was unfortunately ordered to stay behind and guard the ship.

The little Zoan gnawed at the railing in frustration, "This frickin' bites...everyone else gets to go off and have fun undercover, I gotta stay behind and watch the stupid ship! They better bring me back a lot of good souvenirs or else I'm gonna bite each of their asses off!"

"YAWN!!!!" Hoppi bellowed, sitting next to her, which she cuddled him closely with both arms.

"Oh well...it's only for a few hours. Then the captain will send someone to stand in for me." She said, rubbing his belly as the large hippo kicked his leg a few times being ticklish.

------

Requiem, followed by her fanclub, walked around the Con Center, taking in the sights. The navigator saw all kinds of things and people here: rough looking pirates, filthy pirates, pirates of different species, vendors with all kinds of swag and food to anyone that walked by, chefs showing off their cooking skills in contests, and one thing that caught her attention most of all were the pirate otaku that littered the Con Center.

She knew all about otaku from the fanboys of Niri Zolaro who collected her posters, figurines, all that fan stuff, but these were otaku who went a step further than just collecting things about certain people, they were dressed up like them! Within the short amount of time she had entered the Con Center, she had seen at least five people dressed as Samuel D. Axe, Shidyk D. Shade, all the popular outlaws that were making names for themselves right now.

There were even large banners and posters of the greats, the ones that weren't in the prophesy but just as powerful or famous. Kyra Warai, Silver Blade, Veda D Kagura, Aliza Alamonium (which no one suspected is now in the Navy), Batik D. Hurley, Ares D. Bear, the new Root Leader, Captain Geo, Malchior D. Raco, Zachary Riley,"Wild Cat" Tairaa, Ryuko Julia Kagee**,** Bard D. Samekawa, Turning Arcshaw, Lawliet D. Kodji, Zato Alba, Jack Bones, Mistik Z. Kayten, Ajax "Moon Fire" Loki, Roger Zepher, Kuro Neko and many, many more were on display, some of them on posters, others wore costumes resembling them and their crews.

'...Zolaro copycats.....' the navigator thought to herself, '.....Prelude might kill....'

A loud ruckus from behind made her look over her shoulder to see her fanclub had gotten into some kind of confrontation with another group of people. She was going to ask what the problem was when she noticed some of the people that were wearing shattered Log Poses. Looking down at their feet, she could see glass shards and chunks of the compass points that were normally inside the Poses.

If she had any trace of a soul, she might have grinned a little. (which coincidentally a smile by her would be worth 150 million berri if photographed)

-With Prelude and Bolero-

"That idiot!" Prelude clenched her fists, "We turn our backs for one second and he wanders off and gets lost!" she kicked a nearby table over, "Now, we gotta go look for him! To make things worse...," she pointed at a nearby group of otaku, "It's bad enough I have to put up with the otaku back on the ship that devote themselves to that Zolaro troll, I have to put up with these buttholes cosplaying as some of the big-time players in this Era?!"

"(**OH COME ON, IT'S NOT THAT BAD!)" **Bolero roared, startling many passerbys, "(**WE'LL FIND HIM WHEN WE FIND HIM, HE CAN TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF! LET'S JUST CHECK THIS PLACE OUT AND HAVE SOME FUN!!!)"** Because of the muzzle, his roaring sounded like pure gibberish had Prelude not studied and found a way to translate it with the months of free time she had with him. After all, she was a genius of multiple subjects including translation.

"Dude, look at that freaky Fish-Man...,"

"What the hell is he?"

"Hell, I ain't an expert on fish-freaks! Just look at him, he's bizarre, every bit of him. Look at that thing on his face, what is it?"

"Think that's a muzzle,"

"How anyone could like those things are beyond me...,"

Bolero slowly turned around and glared at a handful of pirates who backed away quickly when he locked eyes with them. Based off their reaction, he knew these were the ones who were mocking him and his race.

"Great going, I think you just pissed the freak off,"

"Shut up, you did, too!"

Bolero looked at each of them and smiled. A few seconds later, the small group of mockers fell to the ground like a ton of bricks. The hybrid Fish-Man flipped them off with his tail fin and turned back to Prelude, who was looking down at the unmoving people behind her nakama.

"(**THEY SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO MOCK WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW!)"**

A short distance away, while the other Fish-Men in the vicinity were applauding at what had just transpired, one person in particular was silently watching with interest from his seat. Richard Burns, pirate and Captain of the Oaky Pirates (195 million), looked on at Bolero and Prelude, curiosity rising. He could relate to Bolero's predicament, because he had suffered the same cruelty in the past, although his was a different kind.

Richard, while not a Fish-Man, didn't even look human in the vaguest sense. He was at least twelve feet tall, and his entire body was covered in what appeared to be thick tree bark. Covered from head to toe in warts, bugs, and dry, bark-like skin, Richard actually looked like a tree! Nothing was normal looking, not even his hands and feet. His arms and hands looked like a collection of branches, while his legs and feet looked like giant roots. Most people that saw Richard for the first time either treated him harshly or just avoided him altogether out of fear. They feared him because they didn't understand him, but if they even tried to, they'd know that despite his appearance, he was a good man with a kind heart and soul buried under all that bark.

If there was one person that ever showed actual curiosity about Richard, it would be Gladyr. The undercover Marine doctor was staring at Richard from behind a nearby corner, with both curiosity and excitement growing inside of him.

'Looks like this place is going to be more interesting than we thought! A carrier of a super-rare disease!'

Prelude stretched, already feeling bored, "C'mon, Bolero, let's go find something to do before one of us goes insane." She whispered into his ear so people couldn't overhear the name of the most lethal of merman marines.

"(**BY 'ONE OF US' YOU MEAN YOU, RIGHT?)"**

"You know me so well...,"

Luckily for the two of them (mainly Prelude), the Con Center had more than just salesmen, competing chefs and all the pirates that were wandering around. There were some game booths there too, and one of them just happened to be one that Prelude had no doubt she would conquer. Like the plexiglass 'fight booths' that had pirates collared and chained to each other so they could brawl, Pirate Human Chess, the Eating Contests (which was 5000 berri a plate) or the giant Beetle Sumo matches that many bug fans enjoyed, but none matched this peculiar booth...

A shooting gallery!

At first, Prelude welcomed the idea of shooting things, but when she saw the water rifles she had to use in order to play, the welcoming sensation went away almost instantly.

'Hate these things, they don't have any real firepower!' Prelude sighed and lined up her shots as soon as the vendor told her to start shooting. Not wanting to spend a lot of time shooting the water rifle, Prelude started off with her Lock-On ability, which helped her see the shot's flight path and sure enough, she shot every single thing without missing once. Not to mention it isolated the very noise Bolero was making when growling at bypassers that tried to feel his flesh.

"Wow, nice shooting!" the vendor praised, "You got talent, girl!"

"Yeah, yeah, I won, what's my prize?" Prelude nodded quickly, shoving the water rifle back into the toy holster, "Hand it over so I can get going,"

"Alright, alright, hold onto to yer britches," the vendor turned and looked at the prizes, "Grand Prize, Grand Prize...ah! Here we go," he grabbed a very large stuffed bear and turned around, holding it out, "Congratulations, little lady! Try out the other shooting booths if you can!"

Prelude took the bear and looked at it coolly while Bolero looked puzzled since he could tell that Prelude's heart was a bit warmer than usual. Mostly because she had a weakness for cute stuffed animals.

"Here, hold onto this for me," she thrust the stuffed animal into Bolero's chest, "Thanks."

Seconds later, Prelude felt someone bump into her hard, making her teeter off her feet for a moment before she could regain her footing.

"HEY!" she turned, "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, BUTTHOLE!"

A kid dressed in neat black clothing, with a head of black hair, and sharp blue eyes quickly held up his hands, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, Miss! I was just in a hurry, I meant no harm!"

Prelude growled.

"Uhm...right, sorry," he backed away into the crowd, "I'll just...get going now...,"

The Marine cracked her neck and turned around stuffing her hands into her pockets, "Bastard. He should just watch where...he...," she trailed off and began to pat her entire body, as if looking for something, "Blast it all!!!!! That moron pickpocketed me!"

Bolero looked down at her from behind the bear, "(**WHAT? ARE YOU SURE, PRELUDE**?)"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Prelude's eye twitched as she whirled back around to face the crowd of people, "Where is that S.O.B., I'm gonna teach him not to rip me off!"

It didn't take her long to catch sight of the kid that bumped into her. He was a bit further away now, slipping in and out of sight as he weaved through the crowd.

"If he thinks he can get away from me, then he's got another thing coming! Bolero!" she grabbed the hybrid Fish-Man and lifted him clear off the ground over her head, "Go get that bastard for me!"

"(**ARE YOU NUTS? I CAN'T SEE A THING IN FRONT OF ME! WHAT ABOUT YOUR BEAR**?!)"

"SCREW THE GODDAMN BEAR, I WANT THAT BASTARD'S HEAD!!" Prelude screamed before pulling back her arms and throwing Bolero straight through the crowd, the Fish-Man aimed directly for the pickpocket.

Everyone in the area either ducked out of the way of the airborne Fish-Man, were knocked over by the Fish-Man, or were poisoned by the Fish-Man as he flew by. The pickpocket heard all the noise and looked back to see Bolero coming for him in a nosedive, still clutching the bear.

"What the hell?!" he broke into a run, pushing more and more pirates out of his path, "Move, move, move!"

-----

At that moment, in a large building overlooking the street, something else was going on. In a large, trashed room above ground, the floor was littered with the bodies of either dead or unconscious pirates, their blood staining their clothes and the floor itself. Three figures were looking through the only open window on the floor via a wooden table and brass seats, watching Prelude and her Fish-Man companion chase after the pickpocket through the crowd. They were enjoying cake and a meat buffet when the ruckus occured.

One was a beautiful young woman with blazing red-hair and robin-blue eyes. She wore a fine amber-colored dress, one that was no doubt made for a dancing ball, over her figure. Compared to most other women, she had a rather good figure, and that dress accented it. Kimiko "Blue Heat" Scar was indeed a beautiful, but she was just as deadly. (210 million)

Another one of the figures was another young woman, but she looked like the complete opposite of Kimiko. Runa "White Fang" Saito (245 million) was pretty much the exact poster image of a tomboy. Besides having a head of short brown hair and a pair of razor eyes, she wore a pair of torn jeans, a ripped, green tank top and she didn't wear any shoes at all. In fact, she didn't even wear socks, her bare feet were caked with the blood of the fallen pirates. To make her appear less and less than that of a normal woman, she had a mouth of sharp teeth that were filed into points, and had three different firearms on her back. One was a M80 Beretta rifle and two Beretta Bullpup automatics. Her firepower, plus her appearance, made her pretty intimidating.

The final figure, a man by the name of Randall "Nothingness" Jones (230 million), was...well, someone would say that he looked like a form of Death. He was shorter than most men, just inches from five feet tall, was very pale, had a jaw that was longer than most people, he had a pair of eyes that were completely black in color, and he even wore a suit that looked like it was stolen from a funeral parlor...or that a corpse actually came to life during his funeral and walked out with the suit he had on.

"Lookit that little runt," Runa shook her head, "Wasting energy to chase after a thief,"

Kimiko smirked, "You wouldn't?"

"No," again, Runa shook her head, "I'd jump him and tear into his throat for stealing from me before he had a chance to get away," she pointed to Prelude, who was plowing through the crowd behind Bolero, "Who the hell do they think they're fooling, anyway?"

"I know," Kimiko tilted her head, "They may be dressed like pirates, they may even act like pirates, but even I can spot a Marine from a distance like this thanks to my telepath network. I bet she even doesn't know the Pirate Code! That's one of the most important things all, if not most the outlaws on the Grand Line should know about before coming to the New World. Hell, even I know it!"

"Sure you do, but only the three of us know this, the rest are in the dark since I ain't telling them squat." Runa rolled her eyes and walked over to a nearby table, spearing a piece of meat with a large fork, "Don't you and Deadman over there have something else to do?"

Randall chuckled, "I know you don't like us, and you also know that we don't like you, but just bear with it for now, White Fang."

Runa glared at him as she tore a chunk of meat off with her teeth, crunching through bone like it was nothing.

Kimiko sighed, "It's interesting to know that even though we belong to groups that follow three things that are important and connected, we can barely stand each other and try our best not to kill each other."

"We're not the only ones who have to behave when the time calls for it," Randall mused as Runa scarfed down more and more of her meat, "Even Marines and pirates have to work together from time to time to accomplish something."

"I suppose you're right. Still...," Kimiko held out her right hand and stared at it for a few moments as a small mass of dark gray and black dots swirled around and around above her palm before coming together and creating what looked like a small outline of a person.

"What a fascinating talent you have there," Randall commented with what appeared to be actual interest, "What are you doing there?"

"Just making a little model of a target of mine," Kimiko said casually as the outline became more defined, revealing to her the body of the younger Requiem, "This place will be quite interesting today."

Runa speared another large piece of meat with her long fingernails and tore into it, "Things only get interesting if they get rough, I'll tell you that right now, prissy little-,"

"The food here is quite delicious," Randall cut her off, "The chefs and other cooks here have quite a talent."

Swallowing her food, Runa looked back at Randall, "How the hell do you know, you didn't eat a damn thing!"

"Didn't I?" Randall smirked, belching off a cloud of green smoke that hovered for a few seconds before vanishing.

-----

'Okay, I saw him turn around this last corner, so he's gotta be somewhere...but where?' Prelude asked herself as she scanned a large, surprisingly empty part of the Con Center. Well, not empty really. Sure, there was hardly any people around, but the street had some vacant booths and even a large tent in the middle of it. Grinning to herself, Prelude started to make her way to the tent, "This is too easy...,"

She grabbed the tent flap, threw it open and stormed in, "ALRIGHT YOU THIEVING BASTARD, YOU BETTER PRAY FOR MERCY BECAUSE I'M GONNA RIP YOUR ARMS OFF AND BEAT YOU WITH THEM BEFORE SHOVING THEM UP YOUR TRASHY MOUTH!!!"

Prelude expected the thief to panic, run away, or beg for mercy as he returned her wallet, but what she didn't expect at all was the thief to be in the grip of a large, hooded and cloaked figure with it's grey gauntleted hands around his throat, strangling him.

"What the hell?!" Prelude glared at the figure, "Oi, back off, man, that bastard's mine!"

The figure didn't even turn to acknowledge Prelude, it just kept strangling the thief. The Marine was getting angrier with each passing second, and she was about to plow into him, but before she did anything, she noticed a symbol on the back of the cloaked figure. It was crudely cut, sewn onto the cloak, and it looked like a one-sided axe.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but...," Prelude rushed the cloaked figure, clenching her fists tightly, "...if anyone is going to kill that bastard, it's going to be me!"

The thief looked down at Prelude as he tried to free himself from the grip of his attacker, his supply of oxygen quickly running out along with his vision and his face turning blue.

'Normally, I wouldn't use this on a thug, but I'm in a really bad mood right now, might as well get this guy to share the pain I'm going to give that thief!'

"NEON CANNON!"

Because his vision and consciousness were going quick, the thief didn't see much of what was going on. What he did see however was that the person strangling him not only dropped him hard on the ground, but he was sent flying through the tent after the angry woman rushed him with a rapid-fire spin punching barrage.

Prelude shook her hand as the tent tried to stay upright. She looked down at her hand to see that it was already starting to bruise. As she blew on it, she glanced back at the settling part of the tent the assailant sailed through.

'That bastard...what the hell was he? His skin was like iron, or something. Also, what the hell was with that cloak and symbol?' she looked back at the thief, who was trying to stay conscious as he coughed, rubbing his throat, "What'd you do to piss him off?"

"Tried...to...," he coughed a few times in loud succession, "...get his bracelet. Nice jewels on it...," he looked up at her through messy bangs, "Thanks for saving me. No hard feelings then?"

Prelude's eye twitched as she growled, "You're not off the hook...not by a long shot! First off, gimme back my wallet. It better have all my money in it, or I'm gonna-,"

"It's all there, it's all there!" the guy tossed her the missing wallet, "I swear, it's all there! I didn't have the time to use any of it!"

Prelude caught her wallet and quickly looked through it, "You're damn lucky. What's your name?"

"**Golex**,"

"What the hell kinda name is that?"

"What's your name?"

"San, but that's all you'll get from me, kid!" Prelude reached down and hauled Golex to his feet, "You're coming with me,"

"Hey, w-w-wait a minute! I thought-!"

"I said you weren't off the hook by a long shot, that means I've still got business with you, now are you going to come quietly or am I gonna have to carry you?"

"Well-," Golex was suddenly cut off as Prelude rammed her fist into his stomach, "GAH!"

"Guess I'll have to carry you, then," Prelude pulled the thief up and threw him over her shoulders, "I just can't catch a break in this place...nice cologne though."

-----

"More!"

"Right away, sir!"

Alto belched and tossed an empty plate onto a large pile of plates that were sitting next to him. Having separated himself from his nakama, Alto didn't really have to worry about them since he knew he'd link up with them again soon enough, so he was actually able to explore the Con Center. After getting to know some of the area, Alto's stomach began to growl loudly so he stopped by a nearby eatery to fill his belly.

'If these people find out I actually ate thirty-four plates of food in one sitting, they'd probably confuse me for a D.,' Alto looked up at the sky while the cook prepared his next plate of food, 'D. Alto, no bad...maybe I could use that for a cover sometime or something, Too bad I can't recall my real name...'

A hard slap upside the back of his head snapped Alto out of his thoughts, smashing him headfirst into the steaming carrots. Wincing, he rubbed his head and turned to see Prelude standing behind him, holding onto a nervous looking man in black.

"Oh, hey," Alto smiled a little, feeling a bit nervous from the angry look that Prelude was giving him, getting a napkin to wipe off the carrot juice. "Having fun so far?"

"Oh, just loads!" Prelude snapped sarcastically, shoving Golex to an empty seat next to Alto, "How about I start with what happened after I won a stuffed bear at a crappy shooting gallery!"

Alto blinked, "...you won a bear?" he looked around, "Where is it?"

Prelude's eye twitched. "With the fish-man. Whom I lost track of. But that's not important!"

As Prelude retold her story of the events that happened to her since the theft of her wallet, she kept a firm hold on Golex's shoulder, making sure he didn't run away. Alto listened to her story, nodding every now and then, taking in every detail she told him, his curiosity growing as she went on.

"...and now I'm pretty much this donkey butt's keeper while you're stuffing your face!" Prelude finished her story, "Anyway, boss, what's going on with you?"

"Uh...not much? Besides wondering if our friend can find his way here since he can't see anything in front of him that is. " Alto shrugged before turning to Golex, "I only have a few questions for you. Mind answering them?"

Golex glanced at Prelude, who cracked her knuckles, her eye twitching again, then looked back at Alto, "No, I don't mind at all...,"

"Okay," Alto paused for a brief moment as his thirty-fifth plate of food came to him, this one having a good sized rutabaga in addition to his normal plate of hot veggies. He grabbed the plate and blew on his meal, "Name's Golex, I got that, but what do you do?" he asked before pushing food into his mouth.

"I'm what some people call an Island Hopper," Golex began, "I go from island to island-,"

"Is that it?" Prelude interrupted him, "If that's it, I think all people on the ocean are Island Hoppers,"

Golex sighed, "I'll work on the details later when I have a better chance of not being cut off or threatened," he cleared his throat, "But anyway, it's what I do and I want to expand it,"

"Expand it?" Alto asked after swallowing a mouthful of veggies, "How?"

"Well, first I really need to get a ship and a crew to work with me, so I can get it going," Golex continued, "That's why I'm here. There's so many people here, and so many ships, I'm hoping someone can help me get my Island Hopping business going as soon as possible, but so far, I haven't had any luck...well, good luck, anyway,"

"From what I've heard, I'd say you're right," Alto nodded, "Stealing a wallet, getting chased by a lunatic and then almost getting killed by a mysterious man in a cloak," he clicked his tongue, "Nope, you haven't had any luck but bad like I have. I will say this, though,"

Golex raised an eyebrow.

Alto grinned as he threw the now empty plate onto the pile behind him, earning surprised looks from the chefs, "You should've just kept the wallet since it never has much cash in it to begin with."

A large vein appeared on Prelude's forehead, the sharpshooter glaring pure hatred at her captain, "YOU JERK!" she raised her fist high, "I'M GONNA-!"

As if a divine force saw what was about to happen and decided to take pity on the Marine captain, an incredibly strong gust of wind blew through the Con Center, knocking things over, blowing loose papers and objects away, and even blowing Prelude's skirt high enough to give a panty shot to just about everyone in the nearby area. The startled female Marine quickly pushed her skirt down and held onto it as a blood geyser erupted from Alto's nose. The captain fell off his seat moments later, having fainted out of pure fear of Prelude's wrath for peaking at her panties.

"You sicko pervert!!!!!" Prelude shrieked.

Golex looked up at the sky as a loud flapping sound and a group of dark shadows passed overhead, "Well, I was wondering when he'd be making an appearance,"

"He?!" Prelude grabbed Golex's shirt with one hand, using her other hand to keep her skirt down, "He who?!"

"Vincent Wyer, of a whooping 275 million berr bounty!" Golex said quickly, leaning back as far as he could go with Prelude's grip on his shirt, "They call him the Lord of all Dragons!" he pointed up into the sky where a large group of Millennium Dragons were flying around, apparently having a good time, "He's leader of the Dragoon Pirates, and he's supposed to have control a hundred dragons or something!"

Prelude growled, "How do you know?"

"I also work as an informant, I'm supposed to know things!"

"Know things, eh? So that aura I'm sensing is from him then?" She asked, looking at the tall, imposing knight in dark, spiky, golden armor standing on the head of the lead dragon, with a flowing purple cloak that fluttered freely with the wind on his back. There was also a large wooden crate and a large pile of green vines and moss with size 14 leather sneakers on top of it.

"Not likely, it's probably coming from the marshman known as Black Spot Bart." Golex noted, pointing out the thing on the crate. "Long ago, he had a very unique Paramencia power but it backlashed, covering him head-to-toe. If he tried to get it removed, he would die in minutes, so he decided to stay immobile and give 'black spots' to those who manage to get this far to test their worth as pirates. Do you have one?"

"Nah, the first mate ended up getting it before he could show it to our captain. He likes reading out our mail for some reason." Prelude muttered, recalling how he made fun of Nocturne's sonnets to her over the intercom before she could read them.

"Understandable, I managed to snag a unaffected envelope from a pirate crew before their boat sank. A gunpowder barrel does wonders when making a quick escape. Anyway, it's odd that he would make a appearance."

"How so?"

"Because he has the key to the vault which is in the center of the convention. That vault holds the list of the scavenger items that should be on the different pirate ships, which pirates could manipulate so they would win without a problem. The fact that he's here means they found a new enforcer."

"Enforcer? For what?"

"For the rules of course, pirates don't respect them so they cheat, but the grand prize is a sacred honor. Therefore, someone has to control the rules and punish anyone trying to cheat using that list. Strangely enough, the last one died of a stroke, so I'm guessing he must have brought in someone tough to replace him."

"Makes no sense to me, I wouldn't cheat if someone put pressure for it." Prelude nodded in a calm fashion, which Golex raised an eyebrow at the odd remark.

"Suit yourself, most pirates don't think that way though. They are willing to sacrifice everything, even their own lives and career just to get the honor of the Grand Prize. For even in a day, entire nations will bow down before them and their names eternal." Golex stated, bending down to poke Alto who was slowly regaining consciousness.

"Hello, all you sniveling, bloodthirsty hound dog marauders! You backseat scum off the foot of a putrid giant! The very pus that spreads like the plague on the skin of this world! Welcome, to the 11th annual Pirate Convention hosted every 10 years!" Vincent chuckled in a creepy fashion, his tone of voice like a punk rocker than a well-kept soldier of dragons. His yell caused many pirates to root and holler, enjoying the festivities and such. "Shut it, ingrates! Nobody wants you here, just like they don't want you anywhere else! To say the least, most of you are ungrateful yellow bellied land-lubbers with cement shoes on your feet!"

"Okay, now that's just rude. Maybe if I shoot him in the leg, he'll stop talking." She said, reaching down to collect the right flare gun, only to be held back by Alto's outstretched arm.

"Don't make a scene." He warned her with a strong whisper, reminding her that he was still in charge of the operation. His normally soft eyes were filled with the intense power that rarely shows up in battle, making her cringe and stopped what she was doing.

"Hmm....something's happening." Golex noted, bringing out a pair of stolen binoculars to zoom in since the dragons had moved to a different area.

"As you all know, our once brave enforcer, Rhando "Buzzsaw" Valimont, had suffered a severe stroke and was tossed into the open sea as his final request last year. Most of you were looking forward to take the list this year and try and cheat, but we managed to pull in a ringer that wants to use the enforcer money to pay off his debts." Vincent continued, as the crate began to rock back and forth.

"I got a bad feeling about this, Boss." Prelude said, as two muscular legs burst from underneath the box and carried up upwards.

"A lone pirate traveler from around the world, he crushes anyone in his way without mercy!" A black fist punched a hole straight through the thick 2 foot thick wood wall.

"Seen all over the world, he is stalked by a corporate antagonist group that constantly harasses him!" The second fist punched through, sending splinters over the sides of the dragon's scales.

"Trapped recently for several months on the Florian Triangle, without a shadow and freed soon after before the Impel Down incident, he has come to rock the convention and obliterate any who dares to screw the rules!"

Alto could now sense the heavy black aura that hung over the crate, the immense power that few have dared to face against. He could also sense the familiar presence, the feeling of death that hung over like a pendulum ready to swing down and chip him in twine.

"Despite a small bounty, he nearly crippled the World Government economy for month with his massive debt making and explosive attacks! Give it up for the one, the only, the master of world destruction!" With that, the box exploded into a hundred pieces as the person inside unleashed a small portion of his incredible strength. At 220 cm, 122 pounds, sporting black combat boots/flaming shorts/feathers on his blackened tattooed arms/heart tattoos on his muscular bics, and a unforgetable mask that chilled Alto to the bone, his face turning white with fear.

"The Unstoppable **PANDAMAN**!!!!"

'We are so going to die.' Prelude and Alto thought, overwhelmed by the enormous power that radiated off the island destroyer.

* * *

Maes-Malchior's retired marine OC, has experience in the field and assassination. Uses a specialized long-scoped rifle.

Tommy- Malchior's other marine OC. Goes by another name and profession, a small-arms bounty hunter with a specialized multi-gun weapons platform that is said to destroy boulders in seconds.

Salsa- A RangnaRoc female, based off the legend of the Phoenix. Unlike Pogo, she has a special DF power, but because of flight, she can go over water easily. All RangnaRocs are born female, and reproduce asexually without a male once a day. The eggs do not hatch until the mother dies, and once they do, all of them retain Salsa's personality, memories, thoughts and dreams. As a result, they all fight once they become adults in a few weeks until there is one remaining to be the true Salsa.

Pogo- A rather large, 300 year old turtle that is nearly past his prime, he is a amphibian with a extra large IQ. He is named after a dance style that is coordinated for close combat, and is wise in the way of war.

Mystery Fragments- Like the ones that the Gods of Asgard had, many other islands in the New World had obtained those rare jewels that came with great powers. And many people decided to use them to rule, others to fix and still more to control the islands with that power, handing the jewels to their next-of-kin when they run low on lifeforce.

Golex-A brave Island Hopper that has the unique ability to vanish and reappear, he is a master thief and a sneaky, cunning young person. But what is unique is his vast memorization and field knowledge of all types of pirates and islands.

Pandaman- One of the greatest pro wrestlers in the One Piece world, Alto seems to have some uncomfortable history with this guy for some reason.....


	31. The Rise of Bloodmoon, Fall of Eden

SH: Before anyone asks, I was having computer troubles. And wanted a vacation. Good news is, I made a 20 page story. Now, I will try to make new chapters with less pages to make up for my absence. Also, Hymn and Gladyr will be in the next chapter since I couldn't think of anything for them. See ya later! (runs like heck to avoid the bombardment of bricks and stones)

Ch 31

_"Back when the Navy is still in it's beginning stages, nearly 500 years ago, there was a uprising by the Animal Conformists that were given human intelligence by 'The Grand Darwinist'. Four animals led the hordes against the still restructuring World Government: the legendary 4 War Gods."_

_............................SWITCH ON................................................................._

A trauma switch. Every person who had suffered mental anguish or defeat has one. Deep within a person's subconscious lays a memory that they try hard to forget, and once the memory is active, that person might as well go completely emo, deaf to the world around them.

Yet in the Navy, such things are unneeded on the battlefield. A soldier who falls prey to his emotions should just put his gun in his mouth and pull the trigger, or so 'they' say. Who is 'they'? No one knows. All marines have to be hardened, their wills so strong as steel in order to stomach the dead corpses all around them.

Of course, once a person leaves the Navy, doctors end up taking care of their severe post-depression that was bottled up with long therapy sessions and pill medicine (placebos). It's the same for the people in the militia and armies, too much stress can drive a man up the wall but no one in the Navy wants to admit that he has a suppressed memory that could leave him emotionally wrecked.

Especially when one of the most vigilant of marines, Alto of the Red Strings of Fate, suddenly drops down to his knees in a defeated state, cradling his right arm as if holding his only son. For in front of him did the Trauma Switch get pulled, a 9 year memory rose back to the surface, that of the Legendary Pandaman. For once one holds the title, the only way to escape the memories is through death, as abandoning the Navy with title attached is punishable by firing squad and tossed into the Calm Belt.

"Is he....crying?" Golex said, looking down at Alto who bitterly wept at the memory playing over and over in his head.

"Guess so. It has been a long time since I've seen that guy, he seems to have worked out on his triceps and glutes." Prelude said, watching as the dragon hordes flew off to another part of the convention to land. She seemed a bit interested in the wrestler, but not that much. Now if only he took off the mask, maybe then she would be hooked on how truly awesome he was. After all, she had a weakness for good looking men.

"You met him?" The Island Hopper asked, not sure if he should listen to the tale.

"He did, not me. I was elsewhere at the time, but he came up to me and whined all about it with a runny nose and a broken arm." She said, since she was still in the Academy at that time and was one of Alto's 'friends'. More like a roommate on the opposite side of the wall. "Something about getting a building piledriver to the face. I wasn't really paying attention."

"The pain....the pain..." Alto shook, chattering his teeth just thinking of the horrible experience. He cradled his left arm, shaken and terrified at the same time.

"I don't get it, the guy only has $3,3-"

"That isn't his bounty, kid. That's his Rokushiki level." Prelude decided to omit the part about there being a mistake with the printer and the inability to change the wanted posters. "Not even Rob Lucci can match that kind of skill. If he ever faced that guy that is."

"Okay...am I off the hook now?" Golex blinked, confused as heck now since she seemed to have a bit more information than regular pirates.

"Not even close. Since I heard your story, how about the first mate pays ya for your Island Hopping expertise as a informant?"

"I charge a lot of Berri an hour plus expenses, you sure about that?" Golex said, but Prelude wasn't listening as she noticed a hunky purple-haired guy in black leather, who was giving off strong (but not as strong as Nocturne's) bishie sparkles.

"Uh huh...sure." She said in a half-dazed fashion, not really listening to the guy. Only did the cute guy fade into the crowd did she snap out of it, in which she walked over to the sullen Alto. "Wake up, boss!" She said in a annoyed voice, slapping his back with enough force to dislocate a few bones.

"Ooooow!" Alto groaned, the trauma switch back in the off position. For now. "Man...to think he would be here after all this time."

"Try not to think about him, okay? He's gone." Prelude said, trying to get him under control.

"Yeah, but what now? This totally throws off the groove of things." That earned him a whack on the head.

"Never say groove, that's not even worth saying." She said with a calm face, then continued on. "Anyway, Golex says that he'll work for us, so let's try to enjoy the convention and map out the plan. If anything, Requiem will be able to go into the safe since she isn't traumatized."

"Oi, lovebirds! Let's get a move on!" Golex said, turning to them awhile half-listening to the conversation in disinterest. He'd figured as much.

"Who are you calling lovebirds, kid?" Prelude icily exclaimed, curling fingers into a fist and counting to 10. "He's way too old for me." A "too old" arrow struck Alto in the chest, causing him to cough up a little blood from the impact.

"Ah, I see." 'Man, she's tough on that guy.' Golex thought, as he began to lead them through a more cultural part of convention. One filled with young ladies and men in pre-tailored custom design outfits made for the rich and famous, with mink coats, feather boas and leather corsets. They were chatting away, leaning on each other to get a date. "As we start off, this is the Date District, where I know quite a few pirates. It's here over a thousand of the richest tycoons hang out with some of the crew's finest ladies for a good time, some of which may be married and are just looking for a chance to get extremely wealthy."

"Trash." Prelude said under her breath, which Alto was inclined to agree. A few scantily clad yet glamourous women laid in a pile on top of each other, their throats slit with a knife.

"Of course, the women have a 65 percent chance of success. Failure would leave them crippled or dead, or worse." Golex sighed, watching as the corpses were gathered up for removal by a few pirates with weird expressions on their faces, "It's a bit disgusting really. But you can see that anyone can get away with anything."

"How so?" Prelude asked, decking a pervert from behind with a backhand punch to the face.

"One thing you have to understand about this con is that it is also where the Scavenger Hunt is held. Most of it is bound by the Pirate Code, so pirates don't try and kill each other right off the bat at full power. That's why they turn to mischief and create areas like this, a settlement devoted to the nightlife."

"I'm not really following." Alto said, shaking his head in confusion.

"Think of it like a Pie Chart, which generally describes the shape of the con floor only bigger and with several hidden rooms." He said, bringing out a piece of paper and drew a circle with a black stencil.

"Where did you get those?" Prelude sweatdropped, since she didn't recall seeing those items in his possession last time.

"Heh...fastest hands in the world, but enough of my social life." He drew a line right down the center. "There are two sides to this con, the Good and the Bad. Good involves the restaurants, the small inns, medic shops, pirate games, Human Chess, cosplay, contests, and other decent non-threatening stuff. Bad is the tattoo parlors, bloodbath fights, weapon tests, gunfights, beer gardens, daredevil stunt zones, etc."

"Beer gardens, eh? Any betting going on over there?" Prelude grinned a little, amused that this place was full of combat opportunities.

"Some, I guess. In the center ring of the convention, you can play the odds and try out the various casinos. But if you win a lot, their enforcers would probably rip off your arms and pluck out your eyes and then toss you into the sea. But that's the way it works around here." Golex shruggled, somewhat grossing out Prelude before being interrupted rather rudely. "Once you're doing the hunt, anyone in a zone can be targeted."

"Hey, Golex. Going on a night on the town with your buddies? We still have a hour to go before the party gets pumping." A young woman sporting a classy white form-fitting blouse with a deep v cut, a black mini-skirt and black thigh-high nylons, black gloves, black 6" high heels with a black garter belt and a black corset said, walking in front of them with a smirk on her crimson red lips. Alto nearly nosebled again at her extremely gorgeous 36" 26" 34", 5'9" figure that complimented the dress, but Golex looked disinterested at her proportions.

"Knock it off, Vicky. I ain't joining that nasty crew of yours." He grunted, noting that she still had that whip that he loaned her on a previous encounter.

"My name, sweetheart, is Franziska von Victoria, and I know you are still looking for a crew. All of my ladies are dying to meet you after all, since you have such a photographic memory of islands you travel to without a log pose." She said, suddenly behind him in a flash before Alto could blink, giving him a noogie on the scalp.

"Once again, not interested. I don't associate with bleeders." Was his reply, knocking away the hand and fixed up his hair.

"What's a bleeder?" Alto whispered to Prelude, seeing that the young woman was paying no attention to them at the moment.

"Were you even paying attention in class? Ever since Kairi Lumina had disrupted the first Axe Head crew, countless cults of women had formed on the islands that she visited. They cut themselves on a weekly basis, a few pints at a time for each of them into a sealed-off bathtub, then immense themselves inside of it to get clean, wrinkle-free skin. Of course, many have died off because of blood-transmitted diseases, but apparently this girl has found a way around it." Prelude whispered back, noting the small slices of skin scars along the legs.

"I think that I was asleep during that class. All-nighters really stink when doing advanced physics and chemistry at the same time." Alto pouted, recalling the dirty piles of homework piled up all over his dorm room and the endless nights memorizing useless trivia. Truly, he and Prelude were complete opposites.

"Cutting is so old-school. I'm more into animal bleeding now." Without turning around, she swung the whip backwards behind her to chop a small purple polka-dotted chameleon that was roaming about in half, in which a dozen blood-covered women in oily rags jumped at it with buckets and pots. "After all, once we begin the second attack on Marine HQ, I have my sights set on that goat of the Fleet Admiral."

"Well, count me out of it. I may have all the blueprints on all the buildings in the Holy Land, but I ain't interested in helping you nutcases. Heck, I already have clients." Golex apologized, in which Prelude stared at him with curiosity.

'He has plans of our main base?' She thought, wondering if it was safe to keep him alive should the mission succeed. She took note of the fifty armed, scantily-clad women with blood-stained pitchforks with human skulls around their necks. All of them looked like they were ready to skewer him and roast him alive.

"In any case, my dear Vicky, my answer is still no. My knowledge is my own. Ebon Cape!!!" With hands in his pockets, he cracked open two small spheres and held his breath, as the black inky cloud of smoke exploded around his person to cover the area. Prelude and Alto were lucky enough to hold their breath as well, running away from the smoke cloud as the women and Vicky were caught off guard.

"Pathetic fools.....you can't catch the master of escape! (even though the smoke pellets cost me 50,000 each)" Golex laughed, bursting out of the black fog with a large burlap bag filled with goodies. And other things.

"My make-up bag!"

"My pitchfork!"

"My bra!"

'Pervert.' Prelude thought, watching Golex closely as he caught back up with them with a look of 'I don't know them' on his smug face.

"Sorry about that, she's a old friend of mine that I broke up with a few years ago when she made that dumb fad. Anyway, I'm sure you're dying to see the safe with the paper in the center of it all. Of course, it will most likely be guarded, but with you two, it shouldn't be a problem." Golex finished up, now fixing a gold wristwatch to his wrist. Some sap of a pirate that walked by didn't know what hit him. "Onwards!" He said in a relaxed tone, marching to the northwest with Prelude and Alto sweatdropping in tow.

'Don't tell me that even though we hired him as a guide, he's just using us to protect him when he steals?' They thought in unison as he followed him.

---------------------

".....odd..." Requiem said, watching an impractical swordfight play out. What was impractical was the fact that that bald guy with the green torn-sleeved shirt suddenly screeched a war cry when he was looking at the same jewelry boxes she was, pulled out a multiply-bladed sword from nowhere as his pupils turned white, and began slashing away at the customers with it like a wild beast. Or Crescendo when she didn't get lunch on time.

True, the pirates in the area were skilled swash-bucklers, capable of dirty play, but that man's sword excreted a sinister aura. She could practically see the spirits being sucked out of their bodies into the sword, screaming in agony and clawing feebly at the air.

"GUUUAAAAH!" The man yelled, ripping another man apart and then severed the head in a savage fury as a geyser of blood covered his clothing.

Should she even bother to exorcise the fool? How he came to acquire such a cursed sword was beyond her, but if he continued to kill off the pirates, she might end up attacking her as well. Which would not bode well considering her only 'sword' can only block one attack path, and she wouldn't be able to make much damage with a arrow at close range.

If she had a care right now, she would no doubt be frustrated. But, since she wanted to go shopping for iron materials to shred, there was no turning back. Putting right hand into left sleeve, she withdrew four suitras quickly and aimed with expert precision, tossing them around the man within a 4 foot radius. Without stopping, she closed her eyes and clasped her hands in prayer, her mouth instantly reciting the 400 words of the Miko Language.

The air itself shimmered and turned orange around the man, adjusting into the shape of an umbrella as the spiritual energy expanded around the suitras and poured out to constrict itself in one place. Furious, the man howled as he repeatedly bashed and slashed the barrier, wagging his tongue and snarling.

Requiem fought back the urge to throw up, speaking the language faster and faster as spiritual threads wrapped and tightened around him, siphoning the dark energy into the ground. "....soul purge...." She muttered, listening as the screaming became lighter and fainter by the minute. This continued on for about 15 more minutes, in which a crowd watched on at the demonic exorcism.

She paid them no heed, her focus entirely on the pale-skinned man who was slowly slipping out of the control, the sword clearing up as soul after soul passed through the barrier. She didn't know who would have gave such a old relic to such a moron and she didn't care. Being a priestess meant she had to purify all cursed swords after all, including Nocturne's. Which unfortunately was the sole reason he left the ship in the first place, the stupid Wraith.

With a frightened gasp, the man slumped over as the thick black mist came out of his mouth and was immediately erased on air contact, the sword shattering into small metal shards like all cursed objects since they are brittle without a proper host to substain them.

"....idiot..." She said, spitting some blood on her palm after biting her gums, walked over to the unconscious pirate and write down the kanji for "Absolute Moron" on his forehead.

Meanwhile, over at a small tavern...

"Darn it, my beautiful experiment is damaged!" A nasally-toned, extremely  
obese, and balding 35 year old slob muttered in disappointment, the gray game controller fading away in his hands.

The owner of the establishment looked up from his bottle collection to listen to this, but decided to ignore it regardless. That weirdo just walked in a few minutes ago, paid for a few jugs of rum, drank them all down without swallowing and then announced to everyone that he was going to play a game.

Why no one mocked him or told him to get lost was that mother of his, a regular kiss-up that guy was to have his mom be his first-mate. The owner didn't see the family resemblance at all, since he looked like he had never experienced true love and ate out of depression, the stress he had as a captain really showed on his face. With a 235 million price tag on his head, the people around him wondered how someone like him could be a fierce warrior. For he was Rod "Momma's Boy" Stewart of the Viral Drain Pirates, the captain said to have powers beyond imagining, wearing a skin-tight white T-shirt sweared with ketchup and cooking oil, and XXXL shorts, his feet were barefoot.

His mother on the other hand was a giant. Literally. She was hunched over in the cramped makeshift, assembled building, smiling evilly at the occupants with a casual giant's form of laugh. Wearing the fur pelt of the huge deer of her homeland and making it into a shirt ripped shorts and boots, she eagerly awaited for her son to finish up so she could start eliminating the competition. Of course, being one of the few women giants ever seen before, she was gawked and stared at by many men with seemed to be in love with her rather bosom figure.

"Don't worry yourself, dear. It was probably a lucky shot that he was taken out." She said, chuckling to herself as her nostrils snorted, covering a few unfortunate pirates with snot.

"Of course I'm worried, Mom! Zsasz gave me orders to secretly piledrive the opposition and some unknown pirate blows it all to heck." Rod groaned, chugging off another beer mug that he took from a nearby table.

"Hey, you! I-" TSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

The owner of the mug, a green tomhawk, muscular man with several face piercings expired right before everyone's eyes as Rod lowered the 'space-age' multi-segmented blaster rifle that looked like it had came out of Star Wars. It looked like a gigantic burst of green light shot out of it without the need of charging the particles. It then deconstructed itself into hundreds of small fragments and vanished.

"Such a pain....if only Zsasz could do this himself, I would have won the lousy game without even trying." He said, standing up and waited for his mother to back out so he could leave, his footsteps shook the floor with each heavy stomp.

'Those guys are insanely powerful!' Was the thoughts of everyone in the bar, as the dead, smoking guy was currently missing a head and most of his upper body since the blaster was at half power.

-------------------------------

Bodies. Bodies. A trail of bodies. All of them pirates that got in the way. And here he was, lugging around a somewhat heavy Teddy Bear that seemed to be getting heavier a bit every five minutes.

**'WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS SHE?"** Bolero thought, stomping on a few of the downed bodies with his bulky T-Rex-like feet, his tendrils waving around to sense anyone too close to his proximity.

He thought that he heard her voice a little while ago in the crowd, but then lost it. Sure, Bolero knew not to arouse suspicion, but he wanted to drop the stupid bear on the ship. There was nothing more humilating than carrying a over-sized plush toy when you can't see a stupid thing in front, and leaving it would only equal a revolving sawblade-powered punch from Prelude, which incidentally was his main weakness to her.

A few bullets shot him dead-on on the backside, but he paid them no heed since he could easily drop the package with his rage. That didn't stop him from making a lucky guess and extending one of this tendrils far enough to sting the bastard rapidly.

**'HATE THIS MASK, HATE THIS PLACE, HATE THESE HUMANS....IF I CAN JUST TALK AGAIN, I'LL BLOW THIS STINKING BARGE INTO SHARPNEL**!' He thought, swinging his tail happily just thing about the carnage (and sting a few bypassers due to the tail's smaller but just as painful tendrils).

"Well, look who the Catfish dragged in!" A sloppy, grimy female voice said, in which he spun around to get plastered to the ground from a titantical hit. Had he not been wearing the mask to begin with, his head would have been smashed inward.

**"(WHAT THE ********!)"** He screeched, laying on the floor more angry than dazed by the colossal blow that could implode a tank on contact.

"Huhuhu....never thought I'd see the "Dante's Servant" here again after all this years." The woman chuckled, as well as the ravenous harks of various merman with bad dentistry. He could tell because each laugh clashed their jaws together to cause small spark wear and tear. "With a mug like yours, I'm not surprised."

"(**OLLIVA....)"** Bolero snarled, pulling his odd-shaped head and mask out of the concrete-like floor, recognizing the voice. There weren't a lot of female Grouper mermaid captains with that kind of laugh in the Grandline after all.

And what a captain she was, a 15 foot monstrosity of a somewhat obose mermaid with a ever-widing jaw and thick scaled skin. She looked more repulsive than Alvida before she ate a devil fruit, her body mass could take a dozen cannonballs without flinching. Her only clothing was the long white towel that she wrapped around her G-sized breasts and waist, and the numerous necklaces of dragonfish and shark fangs around her neck.

And because of that, she was a Dragonfish's worst nightmare, a predator that is immune to his poison stabs. The legendary giant Grouper. Blast it all! The one person he feared and he couldn't fight back with the muzzle on. He quickly ran, plowing through the human pirates like they were buckwheat, knowing that he was no match for her.

"Where do you think you're going, eh? Grand Sucker!" She said, dropping to the ground on her hands (since she still had a tailfin) and began to inhale with her mouth expanding several feet outwards. To those who didn't understand how this brand of fishwoman works, she was a mix between a 10 foot tall fan that blows heavy wind at test cars to see how they can adjust to the pressure and a blender. Which explained how a few dozen humans between Bolero and her were sucked inside her ever-expanding jaws and never came out, shredded to bite-sized chunks in her throat where she'll quickly digest them clothes and all. Even the weapons they held did nothing to her thick interior since she could eat spiked sea mines and not feel anything, which would melt from the thick sulfuric acid in her stomach.

'OUT OF MY WAY!' Bolero screamed in his head and bulging out his eyes, pitching a few more humans behind him to satisfy her appetite for his flesh. There was no freaking way he was going to let her eat the stuffed bear either since Prelude would beat the snot out of him.

"Come back, my sweet! I just want to have a bite or two!" Olliva's sickening voice called after him in-between gulping down the human prey.

**'LIKE HELL I'LL LET YOU EAT ME!**' He growled back in thought, continuing to flee as she turned around using her hands and closed her mouth, expanding both cheeks like large balloons.

"Sucker Rocket!!!!" She exhumed, spewing a geyser of bad breath that caused quite a few onlookers to faint, drawing and spiraling her tailfin outward like a drill. Almost instant, the distance between them nearly closed in as she propelled herself, cutting apart any unfortunate pirate that got in her path.

"(**CRUD, CRUD, CRUD! I FORGOT SHE CAN DO THAT!) **He yelled in frustration as he could hear her coming up from behind and took a sharp right turn, letting her fly straight on for a bit before realizing her mistake and adjusting flight angles to continue chasing him. She will not be stopped so easily...

------------------------

"Strange....I don't think it's my birthday." Crescendo said, scratching her thick black hair in confusion at the pink polka dotted, 6 foot tall present on the ship's bow.

Some pirates, she couldn't tell if they were human since they had no faces to speak of, dropped it off five minutes ago. Then they encountered her awhile she was giving Hoppi a long, overdue bath since Hippos enjoy being moist. Now, there was a big pile of scrap metal, small gears, pistons, flesh-like plastic skin coverings and other low tech devices there they stood once she slammed Hoppi down on them in mallet form.

"What do you think, Hoppi? Should we wait for the others or just break it open?" She smirked, growing her arm to monster-size and making it furry.

"(yawn.....)" Hoppi grumbled, not really caring about the details at the moment. All he knew was that he had a bump on his head from whomping those tin cans. At least he had the cushy job of devouring the cook's leftovers after each battle to recover wounds.

"Sure, okay then!" Crescendo grinned wickedly, reeling back her arm to launch the punch at full power. "Wild Comet!" She roared in glee, bashing the gift inwards and cutting away the cardboard material, crushing it in half.

However, the occupant of the box was no longer inside, shooting upwards from the top and making a few front flips before landing gracefully on the hardwood floor. Crescendo didn't seem upset that she didn't kill it fast enough though, the gray human construct with a bulbous red eye in the center of it's 'face' and four 3-foot long mechanical bulky arms carrying a assortment of weaponry inside. Standing at 7 foot, 3 inches, the strange android peered down at her with contempt, with several weapons ports opening up in it's chrome six-pack chest, muscular shoulders, knee caps, T-100-like jaw and a few other places. "Ex-Ter-Min-Ate....."

"Looks like a failed invention of Hymns. Bring it on, you stupid looking machine! I'll whomp ya into the sea! Hoppi, let's do it!" Crescendo said, charging in with her enormous arm in front as the unknown intruder began his assault of peppering her with bullets of various types. Hoppi groaned, not really in the mood since he missed mealtime, but followed after her anyways, sprouting the mallet stick in the process.

"Wild Roundhouse!" Despite the bullets bouncing off her Monster arm, she made her way to her foe before shifting it down in front of her chest and spun on one foot, delivering a sudden slam to the robot's left side and driving it back a few feet. It buzzed, stricken hard as a few sparks shot out of it's metallic frame, but nothing else occurred.

"Tough bastard, ain't ya?" She smirked, her arm back into shield mode as the tall mech coldly walked towards her again. "Hoppi, never mind the assist! He has shotgun rounds." With some flashy footwork, she strafed a zigzag path towards the robot that was now tracking her so it could unleash the heavy firepower into a central point of her large arm. That much damage alone could cut deep into the hardened skin and possibly shut off the Zoan transformation.

"Eat this, jerk! Wild Flurry!" She screamed, not because she was angry but because one of the guns locked on and nailed her in the right foot seconds before close contact. The pain alone was intense since it managed to pierce a few nerve veins and caused some bleeding, but failed to cripple her entirely as she placed her weight on her other foot, drew back the arm, and launched forth a rapid rate of explosive punches point-blank at the android who stood perfectly still.

WHAM! WHAM! X 100! The metallic construct didn't even budge, undeterred from it's programming to kill. As soon as she backed up, it rushed her hard, slamming her hard into the nearby wall and denting it inward on impact. Luckily she put her beast arm behind her back to cushion the crash, but she coughed a bit of blood upon the fist hitting her.

"Ter-Min-Ate." It sound coldly, as two long nuzzles protruded from his right arm and a small flame popped out. Instantaneously, the flame became a giant fireball that threatened to gulp her and most of the ship up, followed by a series of normal bullets to finish the job.

"Hmmph. I hate being underestimated. Wild Fan!" Drawing the large hand back in front and standing out of the trashed wall, she simply swatted at the air in front of her with unseen, insurmountable force.

In a way, she re-directed the fireball with that new 'air current', shoving the nasty burst of hot air (which slightly roasted the fur on her beast arm being close-up) directly at another boat's sail. The pirate boat immediately caught fire, with mini-explosions due to the sawdust and gunpowder on the main deck that bits of flame touched down upon.

"Bastard....." The bullets hit the mark of the large arm, somewhat irritating her despite them having the effectiveness of mosquito bites. Hoppi growled, ticked off that his master was in danger. But he could tell that this guy would only end up hurting his thick hide, then she would go berzerk and he wouldn't get a pirate buffet to munch on.

"Ranged-attacks-.......-in-eff-ect-ive.-Swi-tch-ing-to-melee." The droid said, as two sets of long swords shot out from a hidden backside panel for him to catch. Each was vibrating at a rather fast speed, and with the programming he had, he could be a master of swordsmanship.

One small problem. Crescendo was Nocturne's 'pet', a tool to train with. Even in Badger form, she was nothing but a dummy to bash around. Even as the robot advanced, she could see Nocturne where that pile of bolts walked, getting ready for a lunge lance stab.

She knew the feeling all too well, for that eyeless bastard tested the thick hide of her arm for each sword to see how effective he could slice a man into pieces in under five seconds. A bulging vein popped in her forehead, her face turning red with severe hatred towards her 'enemy'.

"Not....any more. No more, you hear me! WILD HALLEY!" She roared, as small fangs formed where her teeth were and her eyes turned a beastly yellow. With a push to the ground, she accelerated on a rapid burst of speed and then flipped the palm out in front again to curl into a furry fist.

"WILD....." She suddenly vanished before the machine's fiber-optic eyes, making the droid spin his head 360 degrees in confusion. "AMBUSH!"

From out of the floor, the giant hand of wild justice burst out beneath his feet, the long razor claws impaling and shredding through the legs and shattering the mini-motors and wiring. It didn't matter how strong the armor was now, she had located the weak point. And through the tubing and coaxial cable, she successfully yanked out the power core in a single yank, ignoring the pain of thousands of volts jolting through her skin.

"And that....is how you kill a nutjob. Pwooie!" She spat, a bit numbed from the electricity as she wobbled over to the stairs. Hopefully Gladyr left her a aspirin over in the med lab's medicine cabinet. "Come, Hoppi! Apparently, we have to ignore the order if we want the ship to stay intact."

"Gromp....(whatever)" Hoppi grumbled, stomping after her as she prepared to get herself ready for war. "Gromp, gromp...(just be sure to keep me alive, or I'll eat you instead!)"

----------------

"Sir....one of the Bots had been disconnected early in the Hunt." A sour-faced, big lipped pirate wearing a headset and watching a ancient radar monitor said from his seating post. This was aboard the main flagship that Bart had 'acquired', the only with it's own personal Flying Fish air force.

"Impossible! Have you gotten your pathetic 10/20 eyes checked? No normal pirate can just defeat one of those things in only five minutes, even the pirates 200 million and over take at least a half hour due to the thick shell that our metalworkers made for it." Vincent cursed at the man, then gutted the man's throat from behind with a 1 foot long silver sai with ornate dragon designs. "Check the data again, all of you worthless trash! Until I see proof, none of you will have bathroom breaks until after the convention is over!"

"It was that crew that recently joined." A monotone, cold voice said calmly, observing the monitors of the various ships. "How strange that it wasn't the captain that did it but was actually a child."

"Are you screwing around with me, Bastion? We're talking about a freaking human." Vincent sneered, bringing out a steel riding crop from his pockets, smacking it against his open palm.

"I see all, I know all. That is the way of this world, my creations are simply too light-weight against that person. The rest, however, will be different." The cloak and cowled man that Prelude punched revealed himself, overlooking over the other pirates in the surveillance room where the Den-Den Mushis were recording the battlefield. He rubbed the mild dent in his armor, which was now itching a bit. 'That woman....how did she summon that much power?'

"Well, I don't care either freaking way, those pieces of dog vomit are going down for disobeying me before I even announced the start." Vincent hissed, taking one of the mikes off the plaid counter.

"You're overreacting again." Bastion said coldly, shuffling his feet in annoyance.

"Moron! You idiotic ideals are worthless if you cannot provide me with a machine that kills. Do you really think he'll forgive us for electronic failure? NO!" He bit back, retaliating with insults.

"Umm...guys?" A nerdy, freckled teenager with braces and a combover to hide his balding head piped up, trying to get them to listen to him.

"What is it, shrimpy? Can't you see the big boys are talking about decapitating each other to make a point?" Vincent said, his eyes filled with the urge to slaughter the kid with a dozen poisoned swords.

"Sorry...but we lost communications over at Tower #12, which was observing the west hub where that robot was defeated. There was some talking about a intruder and then, nothing. No witnesses, no trail, nothing. It's like everyone in the area just up and perished in a single second after contacting us."

"What?!?!?"

---------------------------

Over at Tower 12...

It was rather plain now, a wreck of planks and wooden boards scattered around the floor, the nails ripped right out of it. At least four dozen pirates acting as sentries were sown about on the ground, their eyes completely white and their mouths as dry as the Sahara. For a bird's eyes view overhead, the area within 40 feet by 40 feet had been formed into a spiral, with a miniature tornado in the center of it.

He was water-logged, drenched and soaking cold when he made it to shore via a barrel that fell off the ship. Obliterating a quarter of the Storm Zone had taken a lot out of him, dispensing all the water and electric molecules in an instant. Had he not, everyone on the Leviathan would have drowned, and he did not want failure to occur. Not to mention the pain of making a strong updraft underneath to keep the ship from falling apart on the ocean's surface.

One of those lousy guards caught him the second he jumped to shore, which he spun twisting his neck in the process to slash his ugly throat open. Then downward slash to neatly divide his skull before he could cry for help. Humans...worthless trash should stay in the recycle bin, as he kicked the punk into the water and licked off the blood on his right paw.

Two others spotted him, one with a Den-Den Mushi. Aiming with precision, a the snail phone was sent flying as well as most of the person's arm in bloody chunks, then he rushed them into a flurry of swift strikes to sharply decapitate them. Their childish iron swords were no match for his own steel-clad rapier, which he proved as a giant of a pirate swung down from above, using the sun's light to hide his bulk. He countered, then blew upward to lessen the force of the blow. The man was sent skyward, perhaps never to return.

And then there was that blasted guard tower that that big guy came from, which assumed that he was picking a fight instead of infiltrating. Save for his belt and sheath, he was completely naked as a proper 'disguise'. At least two dozen seasoned pirates with pistols, daggers, rapiers and rifles came out of it, which the people in the tower trying to call up the main office. There was only one solution to handle this and prevent any more stragglers from catching him. "Swirl Swirl Hayate." A ball of wind emerged from his mouth, as dozens of air streams emerged and spiraled around him, inter-connecting with more and more air streams until it formed a dome of air threads, which immediately expanded outward, pressing foward with heavy force and gale-like winds in the form of a swirling windmill.

A second later, the tower was obliterated on the spot as soon as he opened his mouth. Everyone of them, consumed by a ever-expanding maelstrom of death that sucked the very oxygen out of them. But no one outside the zone could hear the crash of the tower because the air itself isolated the sounds, and the heavy spiraling gust that ripped up the ground wasn't visible to the naked eye. Clothing, skin, blood, bones, all collapsed inward and shredded apart as a aftermath, others simply fell to pieces as the winds tore into them like multiple spinning drills.

No chance of survival. No ability to handle the immense pressure on their persons. The power of wind had power over the water, the earth and most of all life in general. To him, life was sacred to a degree, but pirates who stand in the way of Superior Justice will be trampled and executed to the fullest state of the law.

That was why he was paid the big bucks, to handle crisis's when the men he assigned were incompetent enough to risk their lives going through such a hazardous shortcut.

"Tango....reporting in." He said into his baby one-way Den-Den Mushi, licking the fur off his back to clean off the blood stains. He was completely naked like all cats are, save for the belt, sword sheath and rapier. Hopefully no one would look at him long enough to realize something wasn't right.

"Area has been secured, I'm going in. And maybe get a fish around here. Don't worry...there's a lot of animals that the pirates have, I'll blend in just fine." With that, he switched off the snail phone before his superiors could speak to him, seeing that he felt like he was in charge and didn't want to listen to others.

Problem was that he was still recovering, only fish can help him regain his strength. Which was why he was bleeding in different areas of his body, for the stress of his aging body releasing such gales opened up his old wounds from battles past. "Blast it....I'll have to lick all this up to hide my trail." He muttered, going into the small crowd of pirates that noticed the tower exploding without anyone realizing his presence.

'But soon....the hangings will commence if those guys pull this off without exposing themselves.' He smirked, his tail swaying along with the deformed shorter tail to a strong beat.

--------------------------------------

"Ah, the smell of economics is in the air. I just love a good change of pace." Golex said, stroking the ten gold rings and watches on his crafty hands as Alto and Prelude finished off another group of thugs. Many of them were now missing legs or hands, since Alto carefully cauterized the deep wounds to keep blood from getting on the strings.

"You could help, you know." Prelude muttered, piledriving another pirate into the ground face-first, then spun-kicked a row of them to drive them back.

"Nah....I'm a thief, not a fighter. That's why I took all their fancy tools beforehand so you two could have a easier time." Golex smirked, looking through his bag inventory for the knives, swords, katanas, guns, rifles and muskets. "Some of this can go on the Black Market for an easy 50,000 beri price tag."

'This guy is nothing but trouble, but at least we're getting closer to the center of the convention.' Prelude thought, finishing off the remainder of the Monkeybutts Crew with some well-aimed shots of flares to the chests and faces. The captain tried to run away and turned right the second that he noticed that she always fired straight. "Lock-On...." The targeting pattern immediately changed, as rows of flares flew at him with timed curves to track him down and smash directly into his exposed, widened backside with a scorching conclusion.

"Ah.....my hands hurt." Alto groaned, worn-out from both swinging the big sword around and moving so quickly to avoid the agile swordsmen who seemed to predict his movements. "Stupid haki users...."

"Try this, it will ease the pain." Golex flipped out a bottle of a rather expensive blue lotion from his knapsack, handing it over to the captain as he led them down the path to the center of the convention. 'Heh....with each contribution, I'll fleece these guys of all their cash.' He thought darkly, grinning ear-to-ear. Prelude frowned a little at how happy the kid was being.

"Thanks." Alto said, rubbing the liquid on both of his hands and could already feel the healing begin along the sores of his knuckles. He made certain though not to rub any to where the center parts of his fingers were though, or it would expose his invisible strings.

"I just hope that dumb brute doesn't lose my bear, I paid good money for that thing." Prelude growled, now ignoring the two as she focused on what was really important. But then she overhead a small rumor that bypassed her by a pair of tattoo-covered, shirtless pirates walking by.

"Hey, hey, did you hear? Over 64 of the Bueno Ares Pirates had been taken out by a merman with a iron mask."

"No fooling? I hear that he's one of Arlong's bunch sent here to recruit members. And apparently one of them just happened to be that blowhard chick mermaid that is rumored to be worth 235 million or so. Last I heard was that she was chasing him and doing that sucking thing."

"That gal? Man, I don't want to be in that guy's shoes, she practically eats everything with that black hole mouth of hers, even weapons and humans. I hear that the fertilizer that she sells on that ship is so potent that it could grow grass on red bricks in under 10 minutes."

"Great....so now the guy goes and finds a girlfriend. If he gives her my bear, I am going to slaughter him." Prelude fumed as the two vanished into the crowd, steam pouring out of her head.

"Is that all you care about?" Alto backslapped the air out of annoyance. "Let's just-"

The sound of a hundred royal trumpets cut him off, as the crowd of pirates suddenly parted to either side of the concessions and festival game booths. Up head was the center of the convention, where 15 flagbearers marched from to wave their banners honorably.

"Get down, you two!" Golex hissed, already on the ground, his head bowed down as thousands upon thousands of pirates dropped whatever they were doing, dropped down on all fours to the floor and bowed in worship. Annoyed by this, Alto and Prelude grudgingly agreed, not comfortable with the aspect of bowing to more pirates.

They came as a river of bodies, adjourned in ceremonial blood red robes and golden knight armor. Her faces and flesh were red in color, possibly from high amounts of solar exposure and radiation, and each one had silver-white long hair flowing down to their waists. Finally, each one had a long beak-like nose about 7 inches in length, their gray eyes filled with wisdom and power.

"The Iron Tengu Guard. They control 1/2 of what goes on in the convention." Golex whispered, as the Tengu continued on their normal pace through the open path, carrying large droves of treasure on their backs.

They were soon followed by a vast group of humans, if one can call them that. Horns, pointy ears, long purple tongues, high amounts of fat, weapon ingrafts, various shades of skin color, spiky hair, and other random accessories. Many of which were surgery junkies, the ones that like to mutate their bodies past the stage of pain. Others were simply deformed, giants with thick baggy skin, long necks with wide mouths full of sharp teeth, multiple Siamese men stuck together in one body, etc. For they were the ones that medical science couldn't cure, the people who were shunned from society and enhanced themselves as a result.

"And those are the Black Oni, try not to give them eye contact since each one is around 50 million or so." Golex continued to explain. "They control the bad side of the convention."

Finally, carried and escorted by five dozen armed pirates in full platinum armor with griffin helmets, was a silver portable shrine with a velvet tent on top of it. A single hand waved out of it, well-manicured with several jeweled and diamond rings on each finger.

"And that's the top man to win this year. I hear that he bribed a lot of officials to ignore his alliance with other players and possesses a power beyond even the Logia fruits. No idea what his name is though." Golex finished up, as the crowds started to get back to the feet as the parade went off into the next area of the convention. "No one out of the 15 Captains and their First Mates have seen his true face."

"He looks like a rather weak person to me. I can barely feel any killing ability radiating from him." Prelude snorted, getting back up to her feet. She was immediately flanked by a dozen robed figures that sprung up from the crowd, each missing an eyeball. Each were about eight foot tall with leather boots, their weapon of choice was a 3 foot vibration-making spiked mace, capable of destroying the body from within.

"Who the heck are you guys? Sundance Revolution!" She said in frustration that those jerks interrupted her mocking as she closed her eyes yanking out a hidden flash grenade in her pocket. It was like a large burst of light engulfed them, their hands bruised or broken with the knuckles shattered from a unseen force via her hard-as-steel fists. Even the maces themselves imploded from the sheer force of her rapid fire punches and kicks.

"Impossible....what kind of woman can destroy the ancient weapons that slain a hundred warbeasts!" One of them moaned, dropping his weapon and staring at his mangled fingers with fear.

"Well then, you didn't think it through enough then. After all, my fists are the talons of a God. Sayonara, losers. Flash Burner!!!" Prelude geared up her fist, and then smashed it hard into the closest man's chest to send him into his companions. The force was astounding to believe, rupturing the vital organs and shattering bones on impact as the explosive inertia energy was distributed among them upon crashing into each other, falling over backwards and falling unconscious, with blood spewing out of multiple skin fractures and their mouths. Some of it ended up on Prelude's arm, which retracted since it was still a little sore from the last guy she punched.

"Heh....you just took out Layney O' Byron's One-I Crew with a combined bounty of 212 million. Impressive." Golex said, since the floor was now blanketed in red blood and gruesome vomit. "I'm guessing they didn't like the fact that you considered the one who is destined to win as a weakling."

Prelude flicked her gloves to dry them off, but the dry blood remained. Naturally she was annoyed that she wouldn't get the stains off since there were no washrooms. "Bite me. I can say whatever I want save the truth, so I can beat the crud out of morons." She retorted, then continued on her way towards the center of the convention.

"She is kinda having that time right now, so don't bug her too much." Alto whispered to Golex, following behind her to watch her back.

"You guys are just crazy." Golex smirked, quickly taking the specialized steel maces that fell on the floor and inserted it into his containment pouch for storage.

--------------------

"......." Somehow, Requiem couldn't help but wonder why so many pirates had it in for her. She was examining new sandals in one of the normal shops when some thug with ivy paramecia powers launched a attack on her.

"It may be a bit early in the game, but we pirates can start whenever we want! And now, we will be taking your piece of the puzzle, lass!" The young, seaweed-covered haired man laughed evilly, as hundreds of vines spewed out of his hands. The slightest touch would result in a unbearable burning rash, since that was occurring to nearby bystanders in the small shop.

"......die......." She said, not even concerned about the bystanders as she opened her right palm to reveal a small arrowhead. "....Falcon Shot......" With a small flick, the arrowhead grew two pairs of 'wings' and flew forward towards the vines, manually guided by her line of sight and control. Which meant that she was completely unguarded and unable to move. Like a blitz of light, the missile of destruction zipped and tore through the vines, shredding them into scraps in the process.

"Ah, a new skill perhaps? As expected of a great captain! Ivy Ivy Hydra!!!" The man grinned, as hundreds of new ivy vines burst out of the sliced openings, each with a carnivorous flower at the end.

".....weak....." Requiem said firmly, not at all impressed by the increased numbers that could devour entire crews in minutes. Already, her own seeds had been planted with each strike.

"I'll show you who's weak! Get her, my pets!" Like a stream of carnage, the plant beasts surged upon her even though the mini-arrowhead was still cutting through 10 of them at a time with each slash.

"Ivy Ivy Fertilize!!!" Growths occurred along the sides of the vines, enlarging and nurturing them to improve their thickness. Those that grew thick hides were able to deflect the arrowhead which only dealt minor to no little damage. "Give it up, girl. I am the true master of all ranged attacks. You can't defend against my plants with one measly arrowhead."

"........" She still didn't look impressed, making the pirate look rather foolish since the ivy was starting to 'slow' down to a crawl feet away from her.

Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Flit! Black needles, hundreds of them, shot out of the hardened ivys, merging and forming a multiple-tied web to lock the ivy in place. The iron particles from within hardened and flowed into the membrane, cutting off the movement and slowly spiraled outward to rip the vines asunder like a peeled radish.

"Pointless! Absolutely pointless!" The black trenched pirate with a lot of violet perfume laughed, even though he was scared silly of Requiem's power. The fact that this girl wasn't letting up worried him a bit, until he saw someone with a fancy finger-less glove come up from behind her.

Requiem noted the presence of someone behind her, even though it was a faint one. No traces of hostility or anger either. It was almost like the person itself was not even there, but that was impossible. Either way, she sent multiple arrows formed like spikes along her backside and elongated them outwards, gutting the intruder in the chest and face.

It would have been a success if the idiot didn't continue to walk towards her. But she felt the point of impact, the grinding through bone and muscle tissue. Not Logia then. If it was a Logia, she would have sensed it immediately. No....this was far beyond a devil fruit. She could feel him now, the raspy breath of death blowing on her hair and the movement of the right hand going around her face.

"Hello, little birdy. Thanks for entertaining Falkner for me." The man whispered, smelling of rotten corpses and graveyard soil. "The man has a need to torment little girls such as yourself." He didn't even budge as Requiem shot a dozen more spike arrows into his legs and arms, only smiling as if amused by the ordeal. She couldn't even sense any blood veins in his body, what the heck was he?

"Wataru! This chick is mine, ya hear me?" The man known as Falkner yelled, ticked off that his captain was already claiming her as his own. She would smell a faint scent from the hand, a scent that slowly made her brain shut down one part at a time. Her lack of human free will completely allowed the knock-out gas to take effect, as she slowly fell over in a slump and bound tightly by the hundreds of ivy vines around the clothing areas as to not allow a rash.

"Shut it, jerk. This girl may be a lousy captain, but she will be good for my Daemon Harem. Take her back to the ship, the games are about to begin." The man known as Wataru Sorchi, the 266 million doctor of calamity, said coldly as the wounds slowly healed themselves as the spikes receded and converted back into iron particles. His long, wavy silver hair with blood-red tips became untied as a result of the spike cutting the hairband, forcing him to readjust it. On his gothic black trenchcoat and long gray jeans was the infamous Warscythe of Kalon, capable of slaughtering numerous war tanks in one swing.

"You sure? You saw what she did with the internal trick. Best to let Mirei take care of her before rewiring that weird brain of hers for erotic escort." Falkner said coldly, wondering if such a lady could be tamed properly. As the Vice Captain of the Bloodmoon Pirates Federation, their goal was human trafficking by any means needed. Even if it meant changing the personalities or appearances down to the very last scrap of DNA.

Wataru snorted, his fists clenched as if wondering how many times he could shred his brother-in-law's flesh with a simple plastic spork. The fool had been working against him ever since they arrived at the convention, trying to prevent him from fighting against the Tree's Guardian. As the Guardian of Axe, he wanted nothing better than to turn all the pirates around him into his own personal slaves for life, their souls completely drained of resistance. "Sure, what the heck. We have a half-hour before the game begins, I might as well have you out of my way until then."

"Thanks, Bro. I'll see if we can break her under the record of 1 hour, 2 minutes." Giving the thumbs up, Falkner lifted her up like she was light as a feather and sped off towards the docks like a bolt of lightning.

"He's gone now, Cambion. You and your men can come out now like the cowards you are." He said quietly, as a platoon of thick, armored knights with blue flames rippling around them externally and interally walked forward.

Leading them was a one-eyed man with a gleaming diamond eyepatch, leaning in a automated wheelchair with a leerful grin towards the mad doctor. Half of his face looked surgically repaired, layered with deep, blood-clotted scars of unknown origin. Even his slick green-dyed hair was still growing out from the last time they came up at arms with each other. As the guardian of Shadow, he was known as Baron Cambion, the Tragic Alchemist with a 265 million bounty on his head.

"As always, you get the girl before I did. But in the end, it will be our side that will be victorious this year." Baron chuckled, watching as several fleshless demi-humans flanked their master, covered with daemon technology to increase their speed and durability. "How about we settle it now before the Axe Guardian arrives and tells on us?"

"Agreed. Crushing you and everyone else in the cross-fire will give me the thrill of lobotomizing and dissecting once more. Just like I did to that worthless arm of yours." He snickered, as Baron glared fiercely and raised his palm straight at him, a small hole formed in the center of the palm.

"Don't take me lightly, old friend. Nabassu had given this to me right before he died from your enhanced airborne virus." A small funnel emerged from the hole, extending out several inches and multiple metal panels slid out from the sides, forming a satellite. "FM Burst." He said coldly, as multiple pirates in-between Wataru and his guards fell to the ground, clutching their bleeding ears and suffered immense strokes and brain damage.

However, it didn't look like he fired anything at all, as Wataru stood unharmed along with his companions who slowly advanced towards Baron with acid-dripping iron jaws and foot-long, titanium claws that could slice through stone trees like they were made of plastic. "Good try, my rival. But as always, the past will destroy the future. Through the ponegryphs, I will become the true master of the seas."

With that, the two waves of technological and demonic forces clashed head-on in a flash of high speed, each ready to tear the other's throat out and remove all their vital organs for the sake of revenge. After all, their fight was the signal. The signal of a pre-game war that will determine the fate of ninety thousand, highly dangerous pirates pitted up against the 'non-teams that hadn't picked a side like Shadow, Axe or Tree'. Such as....

--------

"Will you please stop picking your nose?" Prelude complained for the umpteenth time once they got their bearings right. The chest was only a half-mile away now, she would see the rising platform with the Millennium Dragons resting around it. And Pandaman standing guard in front of it, ever vigilant to his duty.

"I can't help it, I'm so freaking nervous. And I don't see her anywhere for the distraction. Heck, my 'I-am-too-young-to-get-my-right-arm-and-both-legs-along-with-a-cracked-spine-and-multiple-broken-ribs' allergy is kicking in and now my leg won't stop pumping." Alto sweated, scared as sin with big eyes as he gazed upon the destroyer. And yes, he was suffering restless leg syndrome for some reason.

Prelude sighed, wondering why her captain was being such an idiot and baby when the giant shadow appeared beneath their feet, forcing her, Alto and Golex to look up with jaws agape at the behemoth, bipedal, silver whaleshark merman divebombing them with a gigantic sledgehammer. Along it's large shoulders and elbows were mini-cannons and thick armor vests to repel heavy artillery. "In the name of the Merquise Clan, I, Iflit, order you three to die before God!!!!!!"

------------------------

Wataru-A truly mad scientist with the power to open Gates, he sees no reason to experiment upon his own family and himself to see his brilliance. He is a Daemonologist, one of the few in his field, and like Nocturne, is one of the most sadistic arcane worshipers with multiple tungsten daggers as his weapon of choice. Leader of Tree.

Baron Cambion-Nearly paralyzed when Wataru stabbed him multiple times in the spine, he has become handicapped. However, because of his 210 IQ, he is a mechanical genius which allowed him to create a bionic arm with sonic capability to drive armies into the ground. His power of the devil gives him paramecia control over Phosphine, aka Will o' the Wisp. He is surrounded by armored guards, all trained to kill pirates 200 million or lower. Leader of Shadow.

Iflit-A 177 million first mate merman, said to be one of the many merman to escape during Fisher Tiger's attack on the Holy Land. He belongs in Olliva's crew, which allies to the Shadow.

Olliva-As stated, she's a Grouper. Even sharks know better to mess with her kind. Not only is her inhaling dangerous, her exhale would unleash streams of boiling, fast-acting sulfuric acid to flash-melt her foes for digestion. Ally to Shadow.

Swirl Swirl Hayate-Tango's weakest attack. Normally it would eradicate everyone within five miles and suck out the oxygen directly from their bloodstreams.

Rod Stewart- Son of a human and a giant, so he's a half-giant. His power is unknown, but it is said that he has unlimited, untapped potential. He is protected by his mother most of the time and loves how she makes him feel good. Allied to Tree.

Franziska von Victoria- Golex's on-again, off-again girlfriend with a knack for bleeding. She is allied to Axe. Specialty: Hyper Soru.


	32. The gang's all here! Commence countdown!

SH: (sighs, clearly annoyed) As my New Year's Resolution, I will work harder to get these things written out in time. It's a bit short, but I managed to squeeze in the remaining foes. The rest is the easy part....hehehehe.....(rubs hands together) With no writing classes, I'll triple the work speed in less time than needed.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did, everyone at that battle to save Ace will get an afro as a way to prevent friendly fire.

Ch 32

_"Being the weak and defenseless humans that they were, the old World Government submitted to the rule of the Beasts for 50 years. But over time, they learned and adapted to their tormentors, gaining knowledge on their advanced tech and weaponry in exchange for becoming eternal slaves to their ambitions."_

What comes up must come down. That is the main law of gravity that all pirates dare to defy. Including merman pirates the size of double-decker buses, since to them, up is down and left is right in the oceans filled with carnivorous Sea Kings.

Naturally, no one told Alto that the density of the giant whaleshark's mass would increase upon falling, sheathing the big sword before bringing both hands up to bear, with a sinister look in his eyes. Prelude shuddered, recognizing that glare as she could sense that he had unleashed half of his deadly killing intent.

"Perish, human interlopers! Typhoon Slice!" Iflit yelled, swinging down the sword without prior knowledge of the apparently suicidal captain. Prelude grabbed Golex by the shirt and sprinted with him out of the blast zone, knowing full well what her captain had in mind.

To those around him, it looked like Alto had suddenly acquired extra arms, encircling above him and randomly moving about. Ever wave your hand in front of your face? That's somewhat the same thing, hyper-fast 'waving' of probability, to flex the arms so fast that they appear to multiply and stay that way.

"Jujutsu Art: Hedgeclipper Trap!" The floor beneath him cracked and created mini-craters, his legs compensating the mass and weight to even out the strength of the slash. Gritting his teeth to near-breaking point, he gripped sides of the sword and twisted it, the metallic fabric bending to his will with overwhelming force.

'Been a while since I've seen that move.' Prelude smirked, watching as the sword was slowly bending inward, curving away in a U-Turn as Alto reshaped it. 'As long as he 'lifts' the item, he could push it however he chooses. Even Iceburgs tremble before him.'

"Darn it....human! Stop resisting, WOAH!"The Iflit grunted after a minute of attempting to push down, only to whang himself on the forehead with heavy recoil upon pulling back.

'Of course, he never was the best at holding onto stuff that he lifted.' She sighed, sweatdropping at how idiotic her captain was for giving the Merman back his weapon.

"Gah...that smarts. Nothing less from a jijutsu master though. I sensed your presence the second you arrived. My job is to erase your kind. Bombay Missiles!!!" From his back, sprouted long cylinder tubes filled to the brim with heat-seeker Sidewinder Mk II artillery. The crowd surrounding the three quickly dispersed, scared out of their wits that they might get blasted as well.

"Lock-On." Was Prelude's response, as time seemed to stand still. 4. 6. 10. 20. 30 flares in under 4 seconds were fired as she automated reloading and set-up time with pin-point accuracy. The large missiles never made it past an inch upon launching, exploding in a series of massive fireballs as the flares hit their mark.

**KA-BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!**

The Merman slumped backwards, overtaken in by the sudden explosion of heat that completely dehydrated his gills and skin. Prelude grinned in victory, blowing the smoke from both barrels and reloaded just in case before re-holstering.

"Anyone else wanta get on my bad side?" She hissed, her eyes full of bloodlust as she studied the crowds.

"Actually, my dear. You got my interest." Came a sudden, chilling voice from behind. From the terrified look on Alto's face, and then at the empty platform with the Safe Box, she knew what she was up against.

To say the least, the downward punch coming from the most dangerous pirate on the planet was so fast that she barely was able to dodge it, but at the same time, it created a punch-sized hole in the floor 20 foot deep just from air pressure. Pirates shook from the sudden collapse, as hundred of cracks poured over the surface, creating deep crevices and fissures from aftershocks.

Without thinking, Alto grabbed Prelude's hand as well as Golex's (causing momentarily blushing from his sniper), and ran like heck. In a way, both of them now became weightless due to his ability to lift heavy objects, so he was able to propel himself through the thick crowd of vile pirates without even touching or coming in contact with any of them. 'Blast it.....can this day get any worse?"

* * *

"Hmm.....I see that even at a den of thieves, the merchandise is of fine quality. Have the knives been sterilized?" Gladyr asked, studying the selection of medical tools displayed over in an orange tent over in the "Yin" section.

"Indeed, honored customer. We take and plunder only the best of tools from neighboring islands to make a profit." The shady, long-arm dealer, with green hair and hairy hands, said, eager to show his wares to the old man.

"Hmm...." He cupped his chin, looking at the white jars next to the knives. "And what about these?"

"Pain relievers? Well....depending on your age, most of them handle the small stuff like headaches, nausea, cramps, ulcers and a few other things. I'd suggest maybe taking one pill every 5 hours at best." The shopkeep muttered, running hands on the jars.

"Anything stronger than that? My physical being is a bit more charged than other people, but I need decent medicine to ignore the pain." He showed the high voltage by placing both index fingers in front of him, as a current of electiricity poured through them back and forth. The shopkeeper paled just looking at him.

With a steady hand, he removed a black bottle with a skull and crossbones over it on the shelf and handed it over to Gladyr, his eyes wobbly. "Here is the strongest batch we got, a Suppressant XXX. It controls unstable symptoms and slowly patches them up, good as new."

"And it can only be found on the black market, correct? I suppose I can pay for it." Gladyr seemed a bit impressed, bending down to collect his wallet only to hear the sound of a skull being punctured.

Looking up, he saw that the kindly seller was dead on his feet. Literally. A two-sided black knife was stuck deep, lodged into the brain, with the tip covered in the deadly 10 second-poison that could be found in West Blue.

Turning around, awhile keeping the Suppressant XXX in his briefcase, he saw that person standing before him in the crowd. White baggy pants, white robed shirt with a undergarment of protective chainmail, white slipper-shoes, white gloves with hidden armor and claw attachments, and two katanas stripped to his back like an X. His face itself was covered by a hockey mask with mesh wiring over the eyeholes.

"Darn....I missed." A hollow, clean-cut voice came from the mask, followed by deep breathing.

"And you are?" Gladyr posed, getting into boxer mode with fists out, charging up with electricity. He swallowed a regular pain pill at the same time, allowing it time to work it's magic.

"A customer slayer, of couse. But most refer to me as Ronin. I was hired by the Captain of a nearby Clothing Shop a few miles north of here to make sure to take out any customers that get involved in this store. Sadly, I ended up killing the owner. Such a pain." Ronin stated blandly. "But, as a member of Shadow, I don't care."

"The only pain is the one you'll be having in a minute. Stream Rolls!" With a serious toss of his old, aching arm, a series of thick bandage rolls burst out of his sleeve, each hardening in mid-air to the thickness of iron.

The rolls simply 'passed' through him, as if he wasn't even there, but all it was was a matter of tricking the eye. For Ronin controlled all reflex on automatic, dodging without moving an inch, all the while moving towards the good doctor with a katana out. "You'll find that you have set foot in a rather dangerous world."

The motion was instantaneous, Gladyr leaning back his head just as the katana swung, missing his neck by millimeters, then was wrapped around as Gladyr guided the bandages awhile dealing a frontal jab to the gut and a uppercut to the face. Ronin shook a bit from impact, but that was about it. Even without bandage armor around his fists, Gladyr held him off with his fists, rotating them ever so slightly to the sides of the blade to 'push' it to the side. Ronin grunted at this, dismayed that his opponent was out-manuevering him despite the speed of his slashes and chops.

Gladyr felt the same way, annoyed that he was clearly on defensive when the force of the blows was equal each time, meaing that there was no chance to knock him back to deal in a solid hit. What was worse was the handle was made of insulative plastic, non-conductive no matter how strong the electric flow was to the metal in the sword.

That was when the first volley began, forcing Ronin to step back as hollow-point bullets struck the ground where he stood. From out of the woodwork, a hundred marines in pirate disguises took up places around the area within a mile radius, each armed with illegal semi-automatic weapons that were bought from the Yang side.

"Oi, you there! Get the heck away from our doctor!"

"Hands and knees on the ground, punk!"

"You messed with the wrong crew if you think we're going to be standing around!"

"Surrender now or we will be forced to fire all at once."

"You guys....." Gladyr said slowly, glad that he could count on his fellow kinsmen in a pinch. PWOOOOOF! Without warning, Ronin 'exploded' into a pillar of pink smoke that engulfed the marketplace, causing many to fall over choking and gasping for fresh air, since it had the scent of a skunk mixed in.

"Everyone, gas masks (cough) now!" He ordered, clutching his face with one hand and with the other bringing out a standard issue rebreather. Slowly, the bad air was filtered out, but the smoke was as thick as a vanilla shake. All the while, he couldn't tell that the prey had already vanished into the crowd, 'stealing' the clothes off a slain, beheaded pirate to blend in.

"Sorry, sir. He's out of range, we should have packed the sniper scopes." One of the marines said upon his perch, cursing the fact that the semi-automatics would cut too many people down and attract unwanted attention.

"That's okay, boys. As far as I could tell, that man requires about 3 of the Dark Union. Even with our numbers, it would have been hard to put him down without sacrifices." The good doctor chuckled, glad that he didn't have to show his true strength to his men. "Deploy around this sector, check all corridors and tents. Even if he changed appearance, he should still have his katanas."

"Roger that. Move out!" With that, the marines in disguise scrambled, immediately spreading out to search for the unknown Ronin.

"Best for me to get to work as well. Man, my hands hurt." He muttered to himself, since with each strike of the sword, he ended up swelling the skin on his hands.

* * *

"Looks like something big is going on.....wonder where those two went." Hymn said, wandering around the Yang side of the Convention. Prelude and Alto vanished without a trace, leaving him holding the bags full of furcoats and women's undergarments that Prelude purchased from a nearby shop.

He noticed that this side of the circle was a bit more....terrible than the other. Everywhere you look was blood on the floor, or people covered in blood or missing limbs. Humans, locked inside electrified, barb-wire fences, awhile standing on seastone floors, would brutally maul or slash each other with the cheering of savages gloating them to keep attacking each other.

At certain times, he vomited out of spite once he was certain no one was watching him, since he saw the stages placed around the area. Not friendly, music or performance stages, but the kind of stage that would make normal people cringe in shock. Slave auctions, filled with skinny, hairless humans with barely any clothing, their faces dried up due to complete isolation from human contact for several years, willing to do anything to serve their masters. Others were bound tightly by seastone chains, their tongues painfully removed and placed under armed guards who would like nothing better than to shove their iron lances into the prisoner's back. Half of the slaves were marines, marines that Admiral Tango had once showed him on a MIA List, their bodies were never discovered during vicious battles on the sea.

Luckily, due to his new status, he was unrecognized as he watched the slaves lined up on the garnished, old wooden floor to be 'bought' to their new masters. On the main podium was a famous pirate known as Lexora Rosebush, a fatheaded man with shrunken pupils and a wide, white-teeth smile that never seemed to close. Even in his bulky gray business-suit and polka dot tie, he emitted a high sense sof security that gave his fedora-wearing henchmen the need to beat down the slaves as they felt the need.

There was just one small thing that Lexora never counted on: Hymn's Credit Card. Building giant mechanical ermines was a bit difficult if the parts were rare and resources scarce, but he had the Shadow Government bankrolling him. As in, he had unlimited berri at his disposal, but he had to be discreet about his purchases.

'And if we play our cards right, and catch all the captains of value, it will more than make up for it.' He thought, as he began bidding amongst the crowd. Naturally, he bid high and low at a conservative pace, picking both the captured civilians and the various navy operatives.

"I will place this marine officer for 5 million berri, perfect for beating and cutting test weapons." Lexora said, pointing to a rather bruised man in Navy apparel, his eyes filled with shaking dread.

"7 million!"

"8 million!"

"10 million!"

"30 million!" Hymn called out, which the gavel struck once there was no takers.

"Sold!" Lexora quickly wrote down the fake name Hymn had according to the paddle number he carried, so that the official would be dragged to the ship in chains. "The next one is a Captain found shipwrecked at a Genova Corp base, going at 11 million."

"13 million!

"16 million!

"20 million!"

"24 million!"

"50 million berri!"

"Sold once again to Number 14!" Lexora pounded with his gavel, once there was no higher bidders to match him.

Very slowly, the crowd of pirates began to thin out, one by one as the bidding went on and on, most of the regulars were a bit red in the face for being outgunned and outsmarted. But that was the point of the game, one didn't need special powers to win.

Even Lexora was a bit stunned by the way that most of his clients were been demolished by a single teenager. Did this 'boy' really have all that money? Regardless, if he didn't, his men will line all of the people purchased by Hymn and then shoot them in the back of the head to show how he dealt with troublemakers.

2 hours later.....

A high bankroller raised his sign. "12 million!"

Hymn did the same right after."17 million!"

A rich lady with too much perfume cast her sign after the man gave up. "20 million!"

Hymn then matched and rose above her."25 million!

"30 million!"

"34 million!"

Another navy personnel saved, another 34 million berri used up. Hymn was already starting to feel the pressure of the beady eyes around him, and the ever-growing debt of hundreds of millions of berri that he was about to hand over to this creep. Alto was going to have an ulcer or two once the bill was finalized.

What was worse was that one of the buyers kept managing to outbid him by way of distraction. Or rather, preventing him from speaking properly as he was forced to hack out for a few seconds as they bought a few top-ranked officals, whom their men beat down with nail bats and took to their ship.

'A devil fruit user?' He wondered, glancing sideways at the ragged-raven haired man in hobo clothing, his plaid shirt and pants were full of torn holes, most of the buttons were missing, and he smelt like he had been raised inside one of Tango's Island litter boxes (undisclosed to the public, since they were practically desolate landfills). The man smiled back at him showing pocket-marked black teeth and green pupils that were like emeralds.

"This stage is mine to command, boy. I hold all the cards, you will have to stand back and watch as I get these guys ready for intel extraction. Perhaps by the same illegal waterboarding torture they use on us, says I." The man slyly said, his tone foul and filled of garlic air.

"We'll see about that." was Hymn's reply, as he pulled out a clothespin from his pockets and stuck it on his nose. He 'borrowed' it from the laundry room, in case he needed to do some 'information gathering'. Don't ask.

"Hmmph...one clip won't make a lick of difference once my contamination is complete, says I." The man, know as Walter Absouls, said with a smirk, as the two called out in clashing roars to up each other's prices, their pocketbooks nearly unlimited.

* * *

"We are almost at the critical point of the operation. All lists are being duplicated as we speak on the Den Den copier." One of the techies said, standing over an advanced Den Den Mushi with multiple mouths.

"Excellent, you pathetic freak of wasted space. How many of the items have been placed prior?" Vincent asked, looking over the room upon his balcony, sipping red wine from a glass awhile practicing throwing knives at a rather flexible, agile pirate that served as a 'dartboard'.

"96% are currently in place, set up inside Death Sentinels. As you know, they will have camo and adaptation programs set in, as well as a AIM field to protect them against the psychic quadrant of the pirate population." The techies chanted as one, their dull, grey eyes emotionless and unfeeling. Stolen from their cribs by the hundreds and taught only to know electronics and robotics, they had become the tools of the master race.

"Excellent. I had heard that those PSI experts were quite the pain at the last convention. Especially the first mate of the red head." He muttered, looking at the picture of a rather tan-skinned man in only red heart-covered boxer shorts, as he had literally taken a ship apart just two hours ago after arrival. In mid-air. Planks, barrels, screws, bolts, pieces of kitchenware, pipes, everything just hovered for several minutes as well as the paralyzed crew who were unable to move or struggle. Dissatified with finding nothing, he moved the crew in the center of where the ship rubble was, then compressed his hands. Needless to say, there was now a blood-covered, floating ball of timber the size of a kayak floating among the thousands of pirate ships.

"Truly, those trash need to get their act together if they want to get into the big leagues." He joked, as dozens of papers poured out of the copier.

"Now uploading......Pandaman appears to have left his post. However, no interruptions have occurred." The techies chanted, typing over 60 wpm several data codes and encryptions, awhile checking over any influcations that could damage the software.

* * *

+Item List+

One preserved whale tongue, said to be from the father of the beast at Reverse Mountain  
A box of shrunken human heads, all DNA-scanned  
A autograph book with Gol D. Roger on it  
Blackfowl feather quills

Block of never-melting ice  
Liter of eternally bright sunshine cola  
A still-beating heart on life support devices  
A lead container filled with plutonium

IV bag filled with the rare Ebola Strain  
Barrel of insane, endlessly-multiplying rabbits  
High-tech arm off of a destroyed fake Kuma  
A living rope that electrocutes anything it touches

The latest book of bathroom reading (won't be out in public for two months)  
Unbreakable vials filled with a brand new corrosive acid  
A suitcase containing 4 strange shells, said to hold mysterious powers  
A chunk of Oars Jr.'s horn, taken during the Whitebeard attack

"Sixteen items, 16 tools that are unobtainable anywhere else in the world. All placed around certain locations that even I don't know of. Those fartheads will search high and low, and then bring them here....only for the trap to be sprung. Just as Zsasz had commanded." He chuckled, looking over the list for the scavenger hunt. "Are my dragons ready with the packaging?"

"All conveyors are unloading as we speak. Output is at 57% and climbing. The event will proceed as scheduled in 5 minutes. We have also sent a message to the 3 Leaders of Tree, Axe and Shadow, only one has received it so far."

* * *

"So, the event is already beginning, eh?" A short-haired, blond man in regal black attire muttered, gazing up at the blue, windless sky over at one of the everglade forest areas, mounted with artifical grassy hills. Two more blond-haired men, also wearing the black clothing nodded, each wearing thick domed shoulderpads. Each of the three wore ruby-lensed goggles, gunbelts for their revolvers, and a odd staff-like sword with a coned spike on one end, and a razor-sharp sword mixed with a double-sided axe on the other.

"We had just got the messenger bird, sir. As Leader of the Tree, you must prepare accordingly to make certain no one else will get to the finish line with all 16 items. Eliminate all non-afficated foes without killing them." The two stated plainly, their skin wrinkled and gray.

"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya. Honestly, a pirate can't relax for a while when creating a sonnet of how I hate the government." He said, getting out a  
black grimore book from his pocket as well as a pen.

Opening it up, he made two swift crossmarks on the pages in order to turn the two dopplegangers into ashes and allowed them to blow away despite no wind being present.

Standing up, he watched as dozens upon dozens of the same shoulder-padded, blond-haired soldiers lined up on either side, their rapiers pointing upwards at a perfect 45 degree angle. Dozens of pirates lay bound by rope along the ground, kicking and begging for mercy since they dared to trespass on his property. Soon every piece of land will become his, and all who live on it will be thrown off into the sea where they will be eaten by Sea Kings. But first came the satisfaction of dooming his foes to a vicious and awful fate, since they were but a mere fraction of the tens of thousands of pirates who will grant his very wish and desire.

"It's time for the Age of Pirates to end with a thunderous roar of destruction and mayhem. Not even Whitebeard himself could stop my master plan at this point." He said darkly, walking through the pathway as his followers walked with him, ready to unleash havoc upon the crowds of unsuspecting pirates. "Too bad that there's not a man alive that can beat me." The sounds of throats being slit and revolvers blowing gaping holes into the chests made him smile a bit, for he was ready to leave his mark on the world. For no matter what, Nicholas Sayar the 3rd was going to send the entire planet into absolute anarchy under his rule once the contest was finished.

* * *

"ACHOOOOOOOO!" Alto sneezed, only to get bopped by Prelude's fist as the three were hiding from Pandaman inside the Art Gallery zone. "Sorry." He whispered, despite the throbbing bump.

"Just keep quiet, will you? And you." She hissed at Golex, who was pilfering art supplies into his bag. "Keep a low profile."

"Whatever you say, madam." He said mischievously, reading a stolen doujin as they posed once again as still statues to fool Pandaman's roaming eyes, holding absolutely still. Unfortunately, Alto's nose was driving him crazy.

'This is bad. This is seriously bad. If I cough, he'll come at us like a crash of rhinos stampding on our corpses.' He thought, wishing for a miracle to happen. Which it did, only not the way he expected.

"FHGHHJ HHDHD SKSJDE DJHJFHUE!" (GET OUT OF THE WAY!) Bolero screamed, tearing through a rather expensive stolen painting, charging blindly straight into Pandaman's bewildered face with enough tendrils out to turn a average man into swiss cheese. He was also carrying the toy bear with him as well.

'You freaking knucklehead!' Prelude and Alto both screamed in their heads, as Pandaman simply bearclawed Bolero by the metal mask due to long arm length and lifted him two foot in the air despite weight differences.

"Don't know you are, but you bug me. Be gone." Pandaman grumbled, clenching his powerhouse fist to launch into the abdomen. It was a technique that he could use to cause the opponent to blow up internally, crushing bones and organs alike into paste.

At least, until Olliva spat sulfuric acid in a thick stream against his back, causing him to release his hold and retch out in pain as the body hairs on his skin melted.

"Who gave you permission to touch my meal, human? I will not tolerate interference." She bellowed, before puffing her cheeks up and blew Pandaman away with an explosive burst of dry air.

He flew away in a hurry, unable to block properly as she charged in for the kill, forcing Bolero to get his bearings again before running like heck from his natural predator. "Be glad I spared your life, next time I will consume you whole and turn your body into a skeleton within seconds of consumption." She muttered, before giving chase again, leaving the trio stupefied by the display of chaos.

"My bear! We have to follow them! Come on!" Prelude yelled, unfreezing as she took both of her comrades by the shirt collars and dragged them awhile running, the speed of her run nearly conking them out cold. But what changed next was the rain of paper that fell from the sky, slips that had the list and the zones that they could be acquired at.

The Grand Convention.....had begun to move as one.

* * *

Team Organizer-Zsasz

Team Leaders

Nicholas Sayar III-Axe  
Baron Cambion- Shadow  
Wataru Sorchi-Tree

Teams:

Axe:

Ronin

Vincent Wyer  
Runa "White Fang" Saito

Tree:

Walter Absouls  
Bastion  
Randall "Nothingness" Jones  
Richard Burns

Shadow:

Rod Stewart  
Franziska von Victoria  
Olliva  
Kimiko "Blue Heat" Scar

* * *

Walter Absouls- Banker of the Pirate Alliance. He specializes in auctions and money laundering, and his stench is so foul that it can take physical shape. So gross is it, that it can peel the planks off a ship in mere minutes, or collapse entire crews once the smell gets inside their noses. 225 million.

Ronin- Said to be one of the top elite Genova Corp members gone pirate, he leads a special Assassination Corp to take out oil tankers and merchant ships. 240 million. Is also said to carry on a prototype Camo blanket from a Marine base, capable of concealing his body.

Nicholas Sayar III- A 285 million bounty, who is considered to be the most ruthless of the three leaders. It is unknown what DF he has eaten, yet it is known that he is capable of swimming. No comment on why all of his crew members look just like him or other pirates that he had defeated and slain in the past.


End file.
